Indicator history

There have been examples of forced evictions of Roma families illegally occupying certain territories. The forced eviction of Romani families from the Sredetz neighbourhood in the Vazrazhdane district of Sofia was followed by a decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) after which the forced eviction was suspended. Another example is the decision of the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) on Complaint No 31/2005, European Roma Rights Centre v. Bulgaria. The ECSR issued a decision concluding that , among all, ‘the lack of legal security of tenure and the non-respect of the conditions accompanying eviction of Roma families from dwellings unlawfully occupied by them’ constitute violations of Article 16 of the Revised European Social Charter taken together with Article E.

Another case of denial of housing rights concerns the refugees in Bulgaria. Under the national and municipal legislation socially vulnerable families can apply for accessing a municipality-owned residential property. The municipal regulations, however, for example in Sofia, require that at least one member of the applicant families should have been registered at a permanent address in Sofia for at least 10 years without interruption.