For more than one year after the adoption of recommendation issued by the Commissioner for Protection of Equality for discriminatory acting of the Belgrade City Administration towards the Roma living in the container settlements formed after the forced evictions, the consequences of discriminatory acting have not been eliminated.

Specifically, last year Praxis filed a complaint with the Commissioner for Protection of Equality for establishing the legal regime in container settlements by the City Administration, which does not apply to other categories of citizens. By this legal regime, the City Administration has stipulated that if the Roma residing in container settlements “do not adopt rules of good manners towards the representatives of the institutions of the City of Belgrade”, and “do not show an interest in the efforts of the City to socialize the individuals and their families”, or if they “have guests in the containers”, they might be again forcibly evicted from the accommodation provided to them. At the same time, the provisions of the house rules imposed on the residents of container settlements by the city authorities incited prejudices and stereotypes about the Roma.

Based on these discriminatory provisions, the City Administration has evicted at least 11 families (44 persons), and the above-stated recommendation of the Commissioner should have eliminated the consequences of discrimination. However, more than a year has elapsed and the City Administration has just partially acted upon the recommendation.

Instead of changing the house rules, which applied to the residents of container settlements and adopting the new rules, the City Administration, in “agreement” with the residents of settlements, adopted “Rules for better and healthier life”, which reworded the previous house rules. At the same time, apart from the obligation of adopting the “rules of good manners towards the representatives of the institutions of the City of Belgrade, the reasons for eviction from mobile housing units remained the same and forced evictions of the Roma living in these settlements continue.