Third World housing squalor in the heart of Europe.
Unfit for human habitation, in breach of human rights.
“Gibraltar is going backwards, not forwards,” says Tatchell.
London – 9 October 2007
“The Gibraltar government’s hostel for Moroccan workers is unfit for human habitation,” according to British human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, who visited Gibraltar last week on a fact-finding mission.
“It is decaying, cramped, dirty, infested, badly maintained and with poor amenities.
“This is Third World housing in a first world country. The unsanitary conditions are in breach of Gibraltar and EU environmental health standards. They are a violation of the residents’ human rights,” said Mr Tatchell.
Photos of the squalid conditions inside the hostel can be viewed here:
http://humanrightsgib.blogspot.com/
These photos had to be taken and obtained surreptitiously.
“They reveal accommodation standards that are not much better than those in run-down parts of Lagos and New Delhi,” he said.
“The Moroccan workers’ hostel is called Buena Vista, which means good view. The views on the inside are far from good. They are downright bad and a total disgrace to a European country. It should be renamed, Mala Vista, meaning bad view.
“These photos show images of slum housing that the government of Gibraltar does not want its citizens and the world to see.
“The government makes public access to the Buena Vista Hostel difficult. This restricts outside scrutiny of the conditions inside.
“When I wanted to visit Buena Vista, to see for myself the state of the hostel, I was told that I had to get official permission. Even though a number of residents had invited me as their personal guests, I was not allowed to join them for afternoon tea at the hostel.
“This seemingly secretive attitude fuels the allegation that the government of Gibraltar has a shameful secret to hide.
“The Buena Vista Hostel is run by the Gibraltar government, which is headed by the Chief Minister, Peter Caruana. He has ultimate responsibility for the conditions there.
“Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory, for which the Foreign Office has oversight. I urge the British government to press the Chief Minister to improve conditions at Buena Vista, to bring them up to twenty-first century European standards,” said Mr Tatchell.
The Buena Vista hostel accommodates about 250 single Moroccan men, with the oldest resident having lived and worked in Gibraltar for around 35 years.
These are the allegations being made by Moroccan workers at the Buena Vista hostel:
* The rooms are tiny and cramped – a mere 2.5m by 2m
* Half the showers and toilets are broken and unusable
* Sections of tiling have fallen off the walls in the bathrooms
* The bare, rough concrete floors in the toilets and showers are unhygienic
* Damp and mould affect many of the walls and ceilings
* Half the rings on the kitchen cookers do not work
* Only one sink per 13 residents, for washing plates and utensils
* No heating in winter
* Laundry facilities are non-existent
* Much of the premises are infested with cockroaches
* The hostel is poorly facilitated and supervised, with no adequate maintenance and repairs service
“If these allegations are true, the government of Gibraltar is seriously failing its humanitarian obligations to the residents,” said Mr Tatchell.
“The Chief Minister has recently said that Gibraltar must go forward not backwards.
“But the treatment of Moroccan workers at the Buena Vista Hostel is a step backwards to the bad old days when they were housed in squalid conditions at the then rundown Casemates barracks.
“The Moroccans were moved to the Buena Vista Hostel less than a decade ago, with government promises of decent housing. Now we’re back to square one, with revelations that conditions at Buena Vista are not much different to the squalor at Casemates a decade ago,” added Mr Tatchell.
The Chief Minister’s political party, the conservative Gibraltar Social Democrats, have produced a manifesto for this Thursday’s general election on The Rock. Under the title,’Citizen’s Rights,’ and the sub-heading’Moroccans & Others,’ the manifesto states:
“No Government has done more than the GSD Government to improve and integrate the civic rights of Gibraltar’s immigrant population. But we have done it in a way, and to an extent that is practical, realistic, affordable and does not threaten to overwhelm or distort our existing society. This will remain the GSD’s approach if re-elected. Those who unthinkingly advocate an’all rights’ approach are simply being irresponsible.”
“It is not irresponsible to expect reasonable housing for all of Gibraltar’s people, including the Moroccan community,” concluded Mr Tatchell.
“The real irresponsibility is the way the Chief Minister is failing to remedy the slum housing at Buena Vista. This is a dereliction of his duties and responsibilities,” he said.