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When the public draws attention to Lithuania’s largest Roma camp, which is rapidly disappearing in Lithuania’s eyes, Vytautas Mitalas, the deputy mayor of the capital, says the processes are going smoothly. According to him, the eviction of the camp had started before, and now the end result is visible: the territory, which has been inhabited by illegal buildings of the Roma community for 70 years, is ending its existence.
According to V. Mitalas, the municipality of the city of Vilnius fully resolves the relocation of the Roma: social housing is offered to the owners in accordance with the regulations, as well as compensation for the rental of the dwelling. The other Roma, in turn, noted that the deputy mayor moved elsewhere.
Commenting on the demolition of the Vilnius camp to the ELTA news agency, V.Mitalas acknowledged that the problem of crime and drug addiction in the Roma community remained a challenge, but assured him that the municipality was continuing with the integration projects of Roma and hoped to open a new cultural center for the community.
Perhaps you can review what is currently being done in the Vilnius camp?
Around 500 people lived in Tabor a few years ago, a number that has steadily dropped to around 100 at the end of last year, earlier this year. The Building Inspection has now informed residents that they must remove their illegally constructed buildings to completion. In May, a process is seen in which the residents themselves remove the fences and houses that have illegally emerged and the existence of the camp is coming to an end.
Does the municipality offer any assistance to the evicted Roma who have spent most of their time in this camp?
Vilnius municipality has had a Roma integration program for several years, a phase of which has already ended this year, but we will continue to develop it: we have a special commission made up of politicians, Roma representatives and administrative staff from other institutions. We pay due attention, the program is funded by the municipality: it includes certain educational, cultural initiatives and efforts to provide housing in Vilnius to those Roma who agree to the housing scheme, declare their income and are destitute, are homeowners social. 23 families already live in social housing and the same number uses rent compensation: they have found a place to live and use it. Other now-endangered camp residents choose to move by renting or buying real estate somewhere. Sometimes it is not the city of Vilnius itself; it happens that they go to other cities or the Vilnius district.
If you look at the areas mentioned above, you can see a lot of garbage – the remains of demolished buildings, various items left behind. Who will order the camp area?
The municipality will be in charge of managing the dirty areas. As soon as we have new managers for this area, we will address this problem. If the residents of the old houses do not take out the garbage, they will not dispose of it, the city of Vilnius will have to.
What are the plans to continue doing in the old camp area? It also has a state forest, will it stay there?
In Vilnius’ new general plan, the entire territory of the camp consists of two zones in a broad sense: one, the southern part, is part of the state forest; it will remain there, and part of the territory where there is no forest falls into the storage area. This means that there could be some kind of storage and logistics buildings needed for this surrounding infrastructure as well: convenient access to the airport, close to major roads.
There is a Roma community center in the Vilnius camp territory. Will you continue working after the camp ends?
We have representatives of the Roma Cultural Center in our working group, which deals with these issues. There are many concrete ideas and projects to open one or another cultural center, not in the camp area and not even close to that area, but in some other place where the members of that community can meet and carry out some cultural activities or remember traditions in a completely different environment. There are such initiatives, but so far I can’t say specifically how and where this will happen, because those projects are still under consideration, but I hope they will be implemented in one way or another. Those alternatives will also emerge.
It is no secret that in the Roma community, drug trafficking flourished in the countryside. How do residents of Roma neighborhoods, such as social housing, react to their neighborhoods? Does the municipality receive no objections or complaints from residents?
As for those families who live in municipal social housing or compensate the rent, there are some important problems that must be addressed. That’s good news. Sure, there are a variety of smaller issues every now and then, but that’s a challenge you’re really overcoming compared to the full scale. Especially since we are applying the social housing policy in a uniform way, expanding social housing in different districts, trying not to concentrate in any district and making those new purchases, taking into account the existing concentration, so as not to increase the number of social housing. In this way, we try to achieve the best possible participation in society and also so that the locals do not see us or this plan in any way. I am referring to a common social housing development policy that we are applying throughout the city.
Is there no fear that the drug crime that existed in the countryside will spread throughout the city?
The security and drug trafficking dimension is challenging. Of course, the police have more data and are following this situation more than the city’s municipal administration, but for these and other reasons, we see that the Roma integration program does not have to stop and end at this stage. You should also continue to focus on those aspects that need special attention when the camp ceases to exist, and you will also receive special attention. We continue to promise concrete steps to ensure that this issue is resolved in a quality manner, and not just that those cabins are not formally abandoned.
How did the local Roma in the camp respond to the eviction, the call to demolish the illegally built houses? The municipality has not received many complaints?
We did not feel the “closure” of complaints because it was no longer a new topic: it had been on the agenda for some time. (…) As we work with various representatives of the Roma community, this dialogue does not allow such outbreaks of complaints to take root.
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