With anti-Roma sentiment running high in Craica, Romania; Roma community living in informal settlement surrounded by apartheid wall build by the local city government, were issued with eviction notices and demolitions of their homes began in 2012 by the same government [5] [6]. The government decided to force hundreds of Roma, who until then had lived for decades in a very bad environmental condition ghetto; into even worse toxic and contaminated settlement: a former chemical laboratory of the chemical factory called CUPROM [1]. Roma people refused to leave their already precarious and degraded neighbourhood, because they knew that the CUPROM factory has served as a hazardous and toxic waste disposal site. The factory among Romanians is known as a "plant of death" [1]. The city mayor of Baia Mare issued the eviction process, and the local police forcibly took Roma on trucks and drew them to the factory [7] . This abandoned copper factory, was one of the most polluting in Romania. For decades, toxic chemicals were used and produced here [5]. The Roma community is familiar with the polluted and toxic conditions, as they worked in the factor until socialism breakdown in 1989 [5] [1]. And it worked again from 2003 until 2012 [8]. In the chemical laboratory of the factory, now a living environment for the Roma, nobody from the government officials had ensured a healthy environment. The walls had been whitewashed prior to the eviction, but inside the rooms there were still chemical substances left over. The Roma again were forced by police to collect the toxic substances with no protection clothes nor gloves provided [7] [1]. A Roma member went to see the alternative housing in CUPROM for herself and stated: “There were some iron wardrobes with a lot of jars… marked with a "danger" sign [6]. In just a few hours, 22 Roma children and two adults showed symptoms of poisoning. Emergency medical services were alerted, so ambulances with medical staff and oxygen masks, assisted the poisoned Roma, who were then taken to hospital [1] [5]. Some Roma people in Craica resisted and did not move to the toxic factory, but their homes are considered unofficial and not recognised by the authorities [5]. Those forced to live in the chemical factory still remain living there, no alternative plan until today (2019) has been made and Roma community still lack healthy environmental living conditions [5] [6]. (See less) |
Hundreds of Roma forced to live in chemical laboratory of the CUPROM copper factory, Baia Mare, Romania
In Craica, Baia Mare, in 2012 local authorities forcibly displaced Roma community to live n a disued toxic chemical factory after their homes had been demolished.
With anti-Roma sentiment running high in Craica, Romania; Roma community living in informal settlement surrounded by apartheid wall build by the local city government, were issued with eviction notices and demolitions of their homes began in 2012 by the same government [5] [6]. |
| Name of conflict: | Hundreds of Roma forced to live in chemical laboratory of the CUPROM copper factory, Baia Mare, Romania |
| Country: | Romania |
| State or province: | Baia Mare |
| Location of conflict: | Craica |
| Accuracy of location | HIGH (Local level) |
| Type of conflict. 1st level: | Industrial and Utilities conflicts |
| Type of conflict. 2nd level: | Chemical industries Metal refineries |
| Specific commodities: | Chemical products Copper Zinc Industrial waste |
| Project details | Craica in Baia Mare is an old mining city of 150,000 in a bucolic region 60 km [4]. CUPROM is an abandoned state owned copper factory in Baia Mare, and was one of the most polluting in Romania [5]. For decades, toxic chemicals were used and produced here [1] [4]. Toxic waste still remains today [1] [2] [3] [4]. The mayor in charge in 2012, ordered the eviction of informal Roma settlement and placed the Roma community in the CUPROM, a place containing toxic chemicals and a poisoned surrounding environment (e.h. land, water)[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. Cuprom was abandoned in 1989 unitl founded again in 2003 until 2012, being the result of the merger between the metallurgical company Phoenix Baia Mare and the Elcond Zalău plant, two of the most important Romanian companies in the metallurgic industry. Five years later in 2017, Cuprom went into insolvency, the court formalized the bankruptcy required by creditor banks [8]. |
| Project area: | 150 |
| Level of Investment for the conflictive project | 600, 000, 000 |
| Type of population | Urban |
| Affected Population: | 2,000 |
| Start of the conflict: | 07/06/2012 |
| Company names or state enterprises: | CUPROM (CUPROM) from Romania - The owners (in bankruptcy) of the factory where the Roma were evicted |
| Relevant government actors: | Romanian government. The Mayor of Baia Mare (since 2011 until today 2019). |
| Environmental justice organizations (and other supporters) and their websites, if available: | Amnesty International https://www.amnesty.org |
| Intensity | MEDIUM (street protests, visible mobilization) |
| Reaction stage | In REACTION to the implementation (during construction or operation) |
| Groups mobilizing: | International ejos Neighbours/citizens/communities Ethnically/racially discriminated groups |
| Forms of mobilization: | Official complaint letters and petitions Street protest/marches Passive resistance to eviction |
| Environmental Impacts | Visible: Soil contamination, Surface water pollution / Decreasing water (physico-chemical, biological) quality, Waste overflow Potential: Groundwater pollution or depletion, Fires |
| Health Impacts | Visible: Exposure to unknown or uncertain complex risks (radiation, etc…), Other environmental related diseases, Other Health impacts Potential: Occupational disease and accidents, Accidents |
| Other Health impacts | Chemical poisoning |
| Socio-economical Impacts | Visible: Displacement, Loss of livelihood, Violations of human rights, Land dispossession |
| Other socio-economic impacts | Forced housing in unhealthy conditions, separation and isolation of Roma communities |
| Project Status | In operation |
| Conflict outcome / response: | Migration/displacement Repression |
| Proposal and development of alternatives: | Amnesty International (AI) [2] reminded the Romanian national and local authorities that forced evictions constitute a violation of a range of international and regional human rights. AI furthermore required alternatives to eviction that must be put in place including provision of prior adequate notice, legal remedies, compensation for all losses and adequate alternative housing; relocation from the poisoned sites and alternative healthy housing. The requirement for the Roma community was not provided until today (2019) [3] [5] [6]. |
| Do you consider this an environmental justice success? Was environmental justice served?: | No |
| Briefly explain: | Forced eviction of hundreds of Roma in 2012 because the authorities fail to provide adequate alternative housing to all the persons affected. People were forcibly displaced by the government into a former chemical factory, that still contains hazardous and toxic chemical substances and poisoned land. The Roma still live in the chemical laboratory on the land that is an so far an abandoned copper factory (CUPROM). Another question is: what would happen again to the Roma if the new investments plans and re-establishing the CUPROM factory and even new mining activities in the surrounding area [9] go ahead ? |
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| Contributor: | Ksenija Hanacek ICTA-UAB |
| Last update | 08/08/2019 |
| Conflict ID: | 4151 |