Parliamentary questions

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1973/03

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission and Council

(03 June 2003)

Subject: Violation by FYROM of the rights of Roma

According to an announcement made by 'Doctors of the World', some 600 Roma at the border between FYROM and Greece, close to the border crossing at Medzitlia (among them 270 children, ten pregnant women and numerous elderly people) are suffering flagrant violation of their human rights. The refugees have been living in the open with no tents or any other form of protection against the sun and rain, with no basic sanitary facilities, since last March when the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and FYROM's Labour Ministry banned their encampment and cut off supplies of food, water and power. On 22 May, the FYROM security forces forcibly removed the refugees from the borders, while the Roma do not have travel documents and are totally dependent on the authorities.

What steps will the Commission take, in the context of the EU-FYROM Association Agreement, to ensure respect for human rights and re-establish decent living conditions for the Roma at Medzitlia?