2017
Rapid Response Grants
Approved – October 2017
Number of grants: 1
√
1. Joint Action for the Roof over the Head
- RSD: 20.460
Context:“In July, Equality and Joint Action for the Roof over the Head organized a solidarity action to build a new roof on the barracks in Vidikovac, which was demolished by hooligans at the order of the construction company “Western Serbia”. The life of people living in barracks was only partially normalized, since the representative of “Western Serbia”, with the support of the police, clearly showed that he does not give up on the intention to violently evict Roma families from the barracks, despite the temporary measure of the European Court of Human Rights. Joint Action for the Roof over the Head persist in a request that the municipality of Rakovica act on basis of the decision of European Court of Human Rights and provide an adequate alternative accommodation for families living in the barracks, as well as to determine the background and punish the perpetrators of violent attacks on tenants. The repair of the roof was only the first step in the struggle for a permanent solution for the difficult position that these families are in today. By repairing the roof, however, they did not took back dignified life, because on the following day electricity company shut down the electricity. The pressure on the tenants of this barrack is strong and directed from different sides, but also our intention to allow them not to lose the roof over their heads, as right and just demand.” It was important to urgently organize a press conference as an extraordinary response to the lack of media interest in the situation in which there is an escalation of violence on the one hand, and an inadequate response by institutions on the other.
