To His Excellency Ambassador of Serbia in Romania, Branko BRANKOVIĆ
In memory of Ljubica Staji, who recently committed suicide rather than being evicted from her home.
We, the Block for Housing in Romania, express our concern regarding the recent legislative developments in the Republic of Serbia, that would further enable illegitimate evictions without housing relocation, enforcement without court trials and auctions of homes, as well as the oppression of solidarity movements for housing rights, as described here: http://www.masina.rs/eng/no-one-without-home-protest-giving-authorisations-private-enforcement-officers/
Ms. Leilani Farha – Special United Nations Rapporteur on adequate housing – lists the UN international human rights provisions covering the right to adequate housing here: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Housing/Pages/InternationalStandards.aspx
As the Republic of Serbia has signed international UN treaties that guarantee the right to housing for all and no eviction without housing relocation, we make a request for public information on the following questions:
1. How are the UN provisions regarding the right to adequate housing respected and put into practice by Serbian public authorities?
2. How does the Republic of Serbia respect the human right to a just trial for each person – also meaning no enforcement without court trials?
3. How do the local and national authorities support solidarity movements for housing rights?
In solidarity with people threatened by evictions, we ask you to use every means available in order to oppose the adoption of the proposed amendments to the Law on Enforcement and Security that will worsen the right to housing for the people of Serbia.
Looking forward to your answer,
The Block for Housing
The Block is a descentralized network of organizations which fight to the empowerment and political organization of communities against housing injustice