Bánovce nad Bebravou, Košice and Žilina have ordered dozens of people to move out of damaged lodging houses or illegal encampments. However, these towns have not provided the displaced residents with alternative housing. The European Court of Human Rights ruled on a similar case from France.
"In the event of a mass eviction of Roma, the authorities are obliged to provide them with alternative housing." lawyer Michal Zalesak from the European Roma Rights Centre citing a 2013 judgement of the European Court of Human Rights for the RTVS public broadcaster. The court's judgement is based on the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights adopted by the United Nations. The three Slovak towns, however, are refusing to provide the displaced residents with alternative housing. Jozef Marko from the communications office of the City of Košice:
"Why should we rebuild houses just so they can knock them down again? We already tried that during the socialist era. This model has not proved right."
The mayor of Bánovce nad Bebravou adds:
"We are working hard to find a solution. However, I dare say that all rights and duties should apply to everybody equally."
The main argument of the three Slovak towns for moving out Roma tenants is that the lodging houses were damaged by the residents themselves. The European court, however, stated that Roma and Travellers are vulnerable communities requiring a higher level of protection. Michal Zalesak explains:
"If a larger number of people belonging to these communities are evicted, the state is obliged to provide them with alternative housing otherwise it contradicts agreements that the Slovak Republic is bound to follow. This agreement overrules national legislature."
Nina Benova from the Proti prudu NGO thinks that the problem of untenantable housing units could be avoided by better preventative measures based on intensive social work. Nina Benova gives an example from the town of Velky Krtis, where Roma have bought their flats:
"Roma reconstructed those buildings and anytime anybody had unexpectedly high costs e.g. for water, they visited the tenants of the flat to find out what was the reason behind the problem."
All three of the criticised Slovak towns claim that they perform social work in the affected areas. Ombudswoman Jana Dubovcova has already started to investigate the case.
