Beograd Gazela
Beograd Gazela was a slum settlement in Belgrade ( Novi Beograd district ), the capital of Serbia, that existed until 2009 . It was one of around 150 such quarters in Belgrade. Popularly and derogatory, it was also referred to as the Karton City . An indefinite, albeit large, part of the residents belonged to the Roma minority, which is why it was also referred to as a “Roma settlement”. The spectacular character of the misery there made the place - like other Eastern European slums with many Roma, which emerged at the end of the socialist era - a tourist destination for visitors from the affluent Western European areas and a "picturesque" sight.
settlement
Beograd Gazela was an informal settlement with no communal infrastructure. The makeshift dwellings were built from cardboard, sheet metal and other old materials. The settlement was in the center of the city under the Gazela motorway bridge and bordered on the railway tracks. There the misery contrasted with the luxury hotels around the Sava Congress Center .
In 2009, around 800 people lived in Beograd Gazela in 114 registered families with a Belgrade registration certificate and 60 refugee families who were displaced from Kosovo or who had fled. Some of these were also people deported from Western Europe, such as Germany.
Relocation
In connection with the extensive renovation of the bridge, it was planned to dissolve the slum and relocate the residents. In August 2009 the planning was implemented and the settlement destroyed. According to the OSCE, the families registered as resident in Belgrade and those registered as internally displaced persons from Kosovo were relocated to various makeshift shelters in Belgrade suburbs after the eviction, in metal containers with lease contracts for five years. These were containers that are normally used in the Belgrade area as temporary office space on construction sites. They do not meet international standards for adequate living. Families with up to five members received a 14.8 m 2 container, larger families a double container. The living spaces were equipped with communal sanitary facilities. The container settlements are on the urban periphery and away from the settlements of the majority population. The segregated location and the associated costs of access to the urban center make it difficult for residents to find work and access to social services.
In 2010, twelve families were accepted into the social housing program and received appropriate housing.
61 families were deported to their communities of origin in southern Serbia. They received limited financial support from the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. The communities of origin are predominantly in poor regions in southern Serbia, where there are no jobs and the repatriates were made homeless as a direct consequence of the eviction.
In 2012, the European Commission provided funds for permanent housing for some of those displaced from Gazela and the informal slum of Belvil. Most of the locations envisaged are far from Belgrade city center, in some cases 25–50 km. They are located away from small towns and villages, have inadequate public transport connections and offer no work opportunities. The decision on the locations was made without consulting those affected. According to Amnesty International, "their rights to water, sanitation, freedom of movement and work have been violated". The new accommodations, in turn, do not meet international standards for adequate living.
Since 2009, around 2,700 Roma have been evicted from Belgrade by the authorities.
Individual evidence
- ^ Beograd Gazela - travel guide to a slum settlement. In: beogradgazela.net .
- ↑ Since there were no counts (not even in a verifiable manner by the media claiming numbers), the proportion was naturally unknown.
- ↑ U Beogradu raseljen “Karton siti”
- ↑ Beograd Gazela: [1] , archive link ( Memento of the original from April 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Shuto Orizari (Skopje / Macedonia): [2] , [3] ; Stolipinowo ( Plovdiv / Bulgaria): [4] ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ^ [5] , Serbian: Večernje novostiKamp posle čerge .
- ↑ a b On the situation of Roma in the European Union and in the (potential) EU candidate states. In: bundestag.de , September 22, 2011 (Federal Government's response to the major question from MPs Volker Beck (Cologne), Tom Koenigs, Manuel Sarrazin, other MPs and the BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN parliamentary group, PDF ; 507 kB)
- ↑ Sto hiljada Roma ziv u 120 divljih naselja u Beogradu. In: politika.rs , April 8, 2009 (Serbian).
- ↑ a b ROMA COMMUNITIES in Belgrade. In: Amnesty International , December 10, 2012.
