SiV calls for concrete actions regarding grave situation of seven families in Gurrakoc

01.10.2019

Public announcement

Through this announcement, the NGO Syri i Vizionit (SiV) wants to sensitise the public, in particular local and central institutions, about the grave housing situation of seven families who found shelter in a former prison building in Gurrakoc of the municipality of Istog.

Since the post-war period of 1999, five Egyptian families and two Albanian families, in the absence of their own homes due to the grave economic and social conditions they are in, have been trying to secure housing in the former prison building located in Gurrakoc of Istog municipality. Throughout this 20-year period, these families have resided in this building, which since 1999 has been in miserable and inadequate conditions to provide comfortable housing.

Despite the continuous and ceaseless efforts of these seven families, but also of non-governmental organizations, various entities and citizens’ initiatives, addressed to the competent institutions, and in particular to the municipal institutions of Istog, with the aim of reconstructing their houses or at least providing temporary housing that meets the conditions necessary for dignified housing for these families, the living conditions of these families in the former abandoned prison building in Gurrakoc are below any level of human and social dignity!

Given the grave situation described above in which these families live, which is clearly evidenced by the photos taken in the premises they spend their lives, NGO Syri i Vizionit calls on the competent institutions of the municipality of Istog as well as relevant ministries whose mandate is to assist and provide social welfare for vulnerable citizens, to urgently take concrete actions, first of all for the temporary relocation and accommodation in suitable housing conditions of these families, and then for providing of permanent residence, namely construction of houses for these families in grave economic and social conditions.

NGO Syri i Vizionit will continue to closely monitor the situation of these seven families, as well as the steps that we expect the competent institutions will take to change the situation in which the families in question live.