By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ROME, Italy – This week Rome began implementing a plan to demolish over 200 illegal Roma camps around the Italian capital.  The plan calls for the destruction of 4-5 camps per week over the coming months, displacing an estimated 1,000 Roma (otherwise known as Gypsies).

Local authorities have said they are giving displaced Roma options of resettlement, integration, or repatriation.  Sveva Belviso, who works for the mayor of Rome, said less than 1,000 Roma will be evicted and the city will “offer assistance to the young, old, and sick.”  The city is also preparing at least 10 official camps on the outskirts of the city, which will accommodate approximately 6,000 Roma.

Despite these measures, there is a growing fear amongst aid workers that thousands of Roma will be forced on to the streets, according to The Guardian.  “The number is in fact likely to be over 1,000 and with the city’s financial straits and overflowing accommodation I wonder where they will put up and feed these people,” Mario Squicciarini of the Red Cross said. “What is worse is that when the bulldozers go in they often do not give you time to get your possessions out.”

Authorities in the city of Milan also plan to close Roma camps, dismantling several of their 12 authorized settlements.  This continues a crackdown on Roma camps that has gone on for years.  Riccardo De Corato, the deputy mayor of Milan, said that in three years the city has shut down 315 settlements, reducing the Roma population from 10,000 to 1,200 currently.

According to the New York Times, local authorities in dozens of Italian cities are implementing similar plans to deal with the Roma, who number between 150,000 and 300,000 throughout Italy, by shutting down both authorized and unauthorized camps.

The issue of Roma expulsion and repatriation was brought to international attention in July when France’s Nicolas Sarkozy ordered illegal camps shut down and Roma expelled from France.  The move drew widespread criticism, from the United Nations, the European Union, and various human rights organizations.

Robert Maroni, the Italian interior minister, recently stated that Sarkozy “was doing nothing more than copying Italy.”

For more information, please see:

SOFIA NEWS AGENCY – Italy Begins to Destroy Illegal Roma Camps – 7 Sept. 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH – Europe accuses Sarkozy of Roma gypsy “witch-hunt” –  7 Sept. 2010

EXPATICA – Italian police dismantle Roma camps – 7 Sept. 2010

THE GUARDIAN – Rome prepares to demolish 200 illegal Gypsy camps – 5 Sept. 2010

NEW YORK TIMES – Italian Cities Plan to Shut Roma Camps – 3 Sept. 2010

ADNKRONOS INTERNATIONAL – Italy: Mayor moves to demolish Roma Gypsy camps – 1 Sept. 2010

BBC – EU presses France on Roma deportations – 2 Sept. 2010

BBC – France Rejects UN Roma criticism – 27 Aug. 2010

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KHARKIV, Ukraine – Local news outlets reported on Wednesday that a key witness in the case of missing Ukrainian journalist, Vasyl Klymentyev, is also missing.  Petro Matviyenko, another witness in the case and Klymentyev’s colleague, would not reveal the name of the missing witness but stated he had confirmed the disappearance with law enforcement.

The police are believed to be involved in the disappearance and possible death of Klymentyev, who was last seen getting into a car with an unidentified man on August 11, 2010 after leaving his home in Kharkiv.  His cell phone and keys were later found on an empty boat floating in a reservoir near Kharkiv.

“There are enough reasons to believe that he is dead,” Interior Minister Anatoliy Mohyliov said.  “We have suspicions that members of law enforcement organs, both current and former, may be involved.”  Mohyliov stated he would be taking over personal control of the case, and switching the investigation to the Main Investigation Department, which handles high-profile cases.  President Viktor Yanukovych also said he was taking personal control of the case, ordering law enforcement to make “every possible and impossible effort” to find Klymentyev.

According to the Ukrainian Journal, Henadiy Moskal, former deputy interior minister and a member of the opposition group People’s Self-defense, believes Klymentyev’s disappearance has something to do with a battle for control over Kharkiv police.  “In reality this crime has been committed in the police environment,” Moskal said.  “It was committed in the battle for the post of the chief of the Kharkiv region police department.”

Klymentyev, chief-editor and reporter for the weekly newspaper Novyi Still (New Style), was reportedly offered a bribe and subsequently threatened for his refusal to kill a story.  According to Matviyenko, deputy editor-in-chief of New Style, Klymentyev was working on a report involving the illegal activities of a Kharkiv prosecutor at the time of his disappearance.  Matviyenko told Radio Free Europe/Liberty Europe that the police and the prosecutor’s office are connected and the investigators aren’t interested in finding Klymentyev, despite statements by the Interior Minister and President.  Matviyenko called the investigation a “farce.”

For more information, please see:

UKRAINIAN JOURNAL – Key witness in journalist case disappears – 1 Sept. 2010

UNIAN – Disappeared witness in the case of journalist Kharkov Klimenteva – 1 Sept. 2010

RFE/RL – Colleague of Missing Ukrainian Journalist Slams Investigation – 30 Aug. 2010

NEW YORK TIMES – Ukraine: Missing Journalist Is Presumed Dead – 26 Aug. 2010

UKRAINIAN JOURNAL – Minister: Missing editor killed by cops – 26 Aug. 2010

THE EPOCH TIMES – Missing Ukrainian Journalist Threatened Before Disappearance – 23 Aug. 2010

AP – Ukrainian President urges search for missing journalist – 20 Aug. 2010

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS – Journalist goes missing in eastern Ukraine – 18 Aug. 2010

By Tristan Simoneau
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PARIS, France – On Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered authorities to expel Gypsy illegal immigrants and dismantle their camps.  This announcement comes after last week’s riot in the town of Saint Aignan where dozens of Gypsies armed with crude weapons attacked a police station and burned cars after police shot dead a Gypsy during a car chase.  In response to the violence in Saint Aignan, Sarkozy stated that some members of the migrating minorities pose security “problems.”

Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said that 300 illegal camps housing Gypsies would be shut down and foreign Gypsies violating the law would be immediately deported to their “home” nations.  Hortefeux stated that “tax inspectors will be sent to inspect the households of the inhabitants of these illicit and illegal camps.”  He also insisted that Wednesday’s measures “are not meant to stigmatize any community, regardless of who they are, but to punish illegal behavior.”

Sarkozy has pushed for a change in France’s immigration law to make such expulsion easier “for reasons of public order.”  He has stated that illegal Gypsy camps “will be systematically evacuated,” calling them sources of trafficking, exploitation of children and prostitution.

Sarkozy’s new “war on crime” was also spurred by separate riots, not linked to the Gypsy minority, in a poor suburb of Grenoble, southeastern France.  The Gypsy Rights Association responded by saying, “as happens too often in history, Gypsies are once more being made scapegoats by a ruling class tangled up in political and financial scandals.”  During World War II approximately 1 million Gypsies were rounded up throughout Europe and executed.  The Association also warned that legal action will be taken for incitement to racial hatred.

Many gypsies live in slums in suburbs such as Aubervilliers on the outskirts of Paris.  There are two main Gypsy populations in France.  The firs, called “traveling folk”, which include several hundred thousand French citizens who have lived in France for centuries, and were traditionally nomadic.  The second is made up of recent immigrants who come mostly from Eastern European countries like Romania and Bulgaria, usually illegally, and are often seen begging on the streets of French cities.  Sarkozy’s recent orders targeted the second group, though the violence in Saint Aignan was in a community of “traveling folk” established in the region for years.

For more information, please see:

THE CONNEXION – Crackdown on gypsy camps for 3 months – 29 July 2010

DAILY MAIL – Sarkozy accused of racism for ordering closure of 300 illegal gypsy camps and expulsion of Roma after riot – 29 July 2010

AFP – France vows to tear down Gypsy camps – 28 July 2010

CBS NEWS – France’s Sarkozy Orders Illegal Gypsies Expelled – 28 July 2010

By Tristan Simoneau
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Photo: Cars burn during rioting in Belfast on July 12th. [Source: CNN]

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – On July 11th, riots erupted in Belfast when a Protestant march passed through areas mainly populated by Catholics.  Despite the calm in the region since a 1998 peace deal, violence still often breaks out around July 12th as Catholics try to prevent marches.  Known as The Twelfth, the holiday has been marred by violence and has been a continuing source of tension between Catholics and Protestants. The date marks Prince William of Orange’s victory over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.  The month of July is the height of the “marching season”, a six-month period in which the pro-British Protestant fraternal organization, the Orange Order, takes to the streets to celebrate the ascension of William of Orange to the British throne.  The past decade has seen a gradual decrease of tension between the groups, until this year.

On the night of the 11th, twenty-seven officers were hurt, including three who were shot at close range by a man armed with a shotgun.  On July 12th, the day of the march, police had to remove demonstrators who staged a sit-down protest to block the march.  Rioting erupted soon afterwards and more than 50 officers were injured.  There are reports that on July 13th, four to six shots were fired at police in the mainly Catholic Ardoyne district of Belfast.  Many rioters also threw petrol bombs and stones, prompting police to use water cannons to deter the attacks.  Now police commanders are saying that the rioting appears to be on the wane after four nights of attacks that have left more than 80 officers wounded.  A Belfast deputy commander, Duncan McCausland, said rioting Wednesday night and Thursday morning involved “a substantially smaller group of people.”

Politicians have accused the Irish Republican Army of directing the violence that began Sunday night.  British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the behavior of the protestors as “completely unacceptable” and praised the police for their “bravery and restraint.”   Cameron said Northern Ireland’s police force is under local control and is no longer taking orders from London. The Prime Minister also stated “there is no excuse for anyone not to cooperate with the police force.”

The Chief Constable of Northern Ireland, Matt Baggot, has stated that his force is determined to bring those responsible to justice.  Five arrests have been made following the violence.

For more information, please see:

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR – Northern Ireland riots raise worries about ‘bad old days’ – 15 July 2010

IRISH TIMES – Fourth night of riots in Belfast – 15 July 2010

AP – Police dodge gunfire in 3rd night of Belfast riots – 14 July 2010

BBC – ‘Significant arrests’ promised after Belfast riots – 14 July 2010

CNN – Third night of violence in Belfast – 14 July 2010