His Excellency President Georgi Parvanov No 2 "Dondukov" Blvd. 1123 Sofia Republic of Bulgaria 30 August 2010 Re: Joint Protocol of the Peshtera municipality, Biovet company and the local Roma Initiative Committee
Dear President Parvanov, The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) is an international human rights non‐governmental organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with offices throughout the world. COHRE has consultative status with the United Nations and works to promote and protect the right to adequate housing for everyone, everywhere, including preventing or remedying forced evictions. COHRE also has consultative status with the Council of Europe and is authorized to lodge collective complaints before the European Committee of Social Rights. COHRE and the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) remain concerned about the threat of forced eviction of the Ediveren community in Peshtera, Bulgaria which is ostensibly to create a buffer zone for the Biovet company. We reiterate that if implemented this forced eviction would contravene the international human rights legal obligations of the Republic of Bulgaria. Those legal obligations include the requirement that evictions only occur in the most exceptional circumstances and that all feasible alternatives to eviction are explored in genuine consultation with the affected community. We welcome the Joint Protocol of the Peshtera municipality, Biovet company and the local Roma Initiative Committee which will result in a land swap allowing the Ediveren community to remain in place. We consider this tentative agreement as a model means of meeting the above‐referenced human rights obligations. Additionally, we recognise other practical benefits by bringing this community within the jurisdiction of the