London, December 07, 2011 - In a briefing published today, Amnesty International is calling on the Serbian government to introduce a law prohibiting forced evictions.

Amnesty International, along with other non-governmental organizations in Serbia, has been monitoring, documenting and reporting on the human rights violations before during and after forced evictions. The organization noted that between April 2011 and 1 November 2011 the City of Belgrade authorities carried out at least five forced evictions most of them affecting Romani people in informal statements.

The briefing, Serbia: Time for a law against forced evictions, outlines cases where evictions have been carried out or have been planned without a genuine consultation with the people concerned who lack legal protection against forced evictions.

In this briefing, Amnesty International makes a series of recommendations to the Serbian government, in particular calling for the introduction of a new law which would prohibit forced evictions.

Since the completion of the briefing at least four new evictions have been planned and hundreds of Romani people are under threat of being forcibly evicted from their homes. This shows that the Serbian government has failed to comply with its obligations under international treaties.

Amnesty International representatives met with the Serbian government in October and delivered a petition with over 20,000 signatures asking for a law to prohibit forced evictions. The deputy prime minister of Serbia Božidar Ð jelic has not yet agreed that such a law is necessary.

Source: Amnesty International