The recent case of extremist Marian Kotleba getting his hands on land under a Roma settlement so he could tear down their shanty dwellings could run up against a legal problem, but that often means no problem at all.
In March, Kotleba, the head of the extreme People’s Party-Our Slovakia (LS-NS) announced his plan to get rid of land-squatting Roma families by buying or acquiring the land they had erected their shack home on and then tear them down. Having been donated around 800 m2 of land under a Roma settlement in Krasnohorske Podhradie, Kotleba looks set to go ahead with his plan.
The government plenipotentiary for Roma issues, Miroslav Pollak, has a different view of the issue, saying certain legislative requirements have to be met before any eviction can take place, even if the settlement is there illegally. Kotleba is classing the dwellings on his land as waste, though, and as he is no stranger to being arrested and charged for his ‘beliefs’, he may go ahead all the same.
Apart from the protection offered to dwellings by law, the plenipotentiary also noted that the eviction of people from their homes must firstly forego talks between all involved parties, with an effort to secure alternative housing, whereby enough notice and a court decision and other particulars would have to be in order first.
Overall, it is against the law to act in a way that will make people homeless, yet cases of Roma housing being destroyed continue to appear. In Kosice the alternative accommodation offered by the municipality that tore down their homes was tents, while in Ziar nad Hronom it was porta-cabins.
Yesterday the local council in the small town of Vrutky tore down two Roma shanty houses that were on the town’s land, but the move may have been illegal because the town did not provide them with alternative housing. Marek Hojsik from the Social Development Fund explained to daily Pravda that “The right to housing is a basic right of survival. These kinds of rights supersede the right to use one’s property”, and so the now homeless Roma families could turn to the European Court for Human Rights over the issue.
Oh come on George you can do better than that ! Old joke – but your lady doesn’t know what you are talking about.
Smug … well Huh ?????
~~~~~but I am not prepared to blame Slovakia for a situation not primarily of it’s making~~~~~
A hard-on doesn’t count as personal growth.
Dear NY,
Along with others, the Slovaks are struggling with Roma issues that have existed in Europe for the past 1000 years. No one to date has been even remotely successful in solving them. Of course I hate the situation too, but I am not prepared to blame Slovakia for a situation not primarily of it’s making.
Alec, I do have very first hand experience with Roma people, more than anyone that has expressed their own ones have here, and It is a outrageous that you cannot see the racism spilling out from the majority of Slovak mouths and even public figures.
if English or Americans are racist does not validate the racial discrimination that happens in this country. Do not try to find on someone else your own mistakes so that you can feel excused that is a foolish mediocre approach to life.
George thanks for the link it is a remarkable plan of actions, I would put a strong emphasis in legally punishing expressions of discrimination. That seems to be the only way the majority of the population will start realising the damage they are causing to other human beings.
Dave the reason the do not apply for that money, I believe is because media and education have no been able to set this issue with the other top national agenda topics. F.F.S. most of the people do not even recognise that public acceptance of racial discrimination expressions is wrong. Not even in this meaningless forum a single Slovak has step up and say: yeah guys we are commonly racist against Roma population and that is wrong.
But I do believe countries have done and will continue doing through time and history their own destinies, having said that if I was Slovak I would start by trying to understand why this country has contribute so little to humanity in every single sphere (except from hockey). Maybe then I would stop excusing my wrongs.
[…] plenipotentiary for Roma Affairs, Miroslav Pollak, has spoken out against the clearance of two illegal Roma shanty homes in the town of Vrutky last week, saying a legal analysis will be prepared to examine the legality of the […]