European Roma Rights Centre
Statement on Romani Women’s Rights
On the Occasion of the Organization for Security and
Co-Operation in Europe-OSCE
Human Dimension Implementation Meeting
October 3, 2006, Warsaw
Contact: Ostalinda Maya Ovalle: + 36 70 602 58 31
In recent years, attention by some grassroots
activists, civil society groups, national
governments and international organisations to
violations of the fundamental rights of Romani
women has increased. As a result, some positive
steps have been taken. For example, the European
Parliament recently adopted a report on the
situation of Roma women in Europe (1) and there
has been an increase in research and programmes
specifically focussing on Romani women. However,
despite these positive steps, the worrying
situation of many Romani women has hardly
changed, if it has changed at all. Romani women
continue to face pressure by families and
communities to comply with certain customs and
traditions degrading to women. At the same time,
they also suffer widespread discrimination in the
realisation of a number of fundamental human
rights. In some cases, Romani women have suffered
extreme harms at the hands of public officials,
including via practices such as coercive
sterilisation. Despite pressure to do otherwise,
some Romani women are increasingly raising their
voices and speaking out to challenge abuse. These
actions have however frequently been met with
either contempt or further attacks and repression
on the parts of their families and communities,
public media, government officials and even some
civil society groups. Summaries of some ERRC
concerns in the field of Romani women’s rights follow
below.
Coercive Sterilization
Romani women have been subjected to coercive
sterilization in a number of European countries.
Some Western European governments (Sweden, for
example) have established compensation mechanisms
for victims, but have not yet recognised the
racial-targeting aspects of these systemic harms.
In a number of countries of Central and Eastern
Europe, these practices have continued to the present
day.
The situation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
involves systemic and as yet un-redressed
practices affecting many hundreds of women.
Efforts to coercively sterilise Romani women in
the Czech Republic and Slovakia have arisen as a
result of a combination of factors including but
not necessarily limited to: (i) the unaddressed
legacy of eugenics in Central and Eastern Europe,
which continues to influence medical practice in
these countries to today; (ii) a general vacuum
of respect for patients' rights; (iii) particular
contempt for the moral agency of Romani women;
and (iv) “concern” at high levels of Romani birth
rates. As a result of these, hundreds of Romani
women have suffered extreme harms at the hands of
doctors. These issues have been raised regularly
by domestic and international agencies since the
late 1970s. As yet, however, no action by either
government has been sufficient to provide
adequate remedy to victims, or even to stop the
practice once and for all.
In the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, some
Romani women victims of coercive sterilisation
have pressed justice claims, with only limited success
to date:
·
In the Czech Republic, in December 2005,
the Czech Public Defender of Rights (“Ombudsman”)
published a report acknowledging the practice,
following investigation of many tens of claims.
In his report, the Ombudsman stated: “The Public
Defender of Rights believes that the problem of
sexual sterilisation carried out in the Czech
Republic, either with improper motivation or
illegally, exists, and Czech society has to come
to terms with this.” This important recognition
notwithstanding, to date, the Czech government
has neither apologised to the victims, nor
established a mechanism for remedy, nor
recognised the racial-targeting aspect of the
issue. Indeed, Czech courts have only provided
remedy in two cases, and in one of these cases
refused to provide financial compensation to the
victim.
·
In Slovakia, actions by the government
in response to these issues have been primarily
malicious. In response to complaints by a number
of Romani women, the Slovak Ministry of Health
directed hospitals not to release the records of
the persons concerned with the legal
representation of the victims. Slovak
prosecutors
despite extensive advice not to do
so
opened investigations for the crime of
genocide, a crime so serious that evidentiary
standards could not be met, and they then
predictably concluded that this crime had not
been committed, ending their investigation into
the matter. The same authority has repeatedly
released misleading information to the media,
deliberately perpetuating a state of delusion
about the matter currently prevailing among the
Slovak public. Slovak police investigating the
issue urged complainants to testify, but
reportedly warned a number of them that their
partners might be prosecuted for statutory rape,
since it was evident that they had become
pregnant while minors; under this pressure, a
number of victims withdrew complaints.
In an important breakthrough at international
level, in August 2006, the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) condemned Hungary for violating the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women in connection with
the sterilisation of a Romani woman without her
consent in January 2001. Ms. S. had been admitted
to hospital following a miscarriage and was
sterilised without being provided with
information she could understand on the
implications of the procedure. The CEDAW
Committee ruled that Hungary’s failure to provide
Ms. S. with due compensation for the act violated
international human rights law.
Domestic Violence
In a recent survey carried out among 237 Romani
women in Macedonia, over 70% of the women
interviewed stated they had been victims of
violence at the hands of their partners, their
in-laws and other members of their families. The
national average is 23%. The great majority of
these incidents go underreported due to a number
of factors: First, violence against women is
accepted in some Romani families. Secondly, there
is the fear of being ostracised and shamed by
their communities and families. Thirdly,
perpetrators of violence against women are rarely
held accountable for their acts, which
discourages women from seeking legal help.
Fourthly, Romani women fear further victimisation
on the part of the police and/or others. In
addition, there are a number of practical issues
that make it virtually impossible for women to
escape these situations. These include lack of
alternative housing, inadequate economic means to
survive on their own, and/or lack of employment
opportunities.
Despite these barriers, some Romani women, often
in desperate situations, have begun challenging
domestic violence. To date, however, few if any
of these efforts have been successful. Reactions
on the part of law enforcement officials
frequently involve either refusing to accept
complaints and/or further victimising the women
concerned with insults and threats. Out of the
237 Macedonian Romani women interviewed, 34 had
reported instances of domestic violence to the
police ; 20 (or 59%) of these women stated that
the police subjected them to racial prejudice and
degrading treatment. In only 5 out of 34 reported
cases (15%) did the police actually intervene.
One Romani woman in Macedonia told researchers,
When 43-year-old D.D. from Stip sought police
assistance after having been beaten by a member
of her family, the police official to whom she
turned reportedly stated, “You Gypsies fight
amongst yourselves all the time. You have to
solve your problems among yourselves.” (2)
Child Marriage
Child marriage continues to take place in many
countries of Europe with impunity.(3) Child
marriage and the serial human rights abuses
associated with it are problems present in a
number of Romani communities throughout the OSCE
region.
In one recent case coming to the attention of the
ERRC, in Caras Severin County, Romania, M.S., a
10-year-old Romani girl, was sold byher parents
to the parents of D.M., a 17-year-old youth. The
contract for the arrangement specified that M.S.
would bear at least two children. Romanian
authorities may have provided a modicum legal
recognition for the arrangement by agreeing to
the adoption of M.S. by the parents of D.M.
Apparently no adequate investigation of the
circumstances of the “adoption” was undertaken by
Romanian child protection authorities. At the age
of 12, M.S. gave birth by caesarean section to a
child, but was told by doctors not to have any
more children. At this point, the parents of D.M.
attempted to reclaim the dowry from the parents
of M.S., citing default of contract. This
conflict came to violence between the two
families, and the Romanian authorities were
alerted for a second time. Romanian police have
pursued legal action against D.M., who is now
reportedly 19 years old, for the crimes of
trafficking and sex with a minor. He now faces a
significant term of imprisonment. However, the
parents of D.M. and the parents of M.S. have to
date faced no legal consequences whatsoever for their
actions.
The case of M.S. and D.M. is a particularly
extreme example of events which befall thousands
of Romani children and youths every year. As in
this case, authorities almost without exception
abandon the victims to the perpetrators, and/or
(as in the case of D.M. and M.S.) fail to
prosecute the main agents of the abuse. There has
not yet been any real effort on the part of any
significant domestic or international authorities
to address the problem of child marriage in the
Romani community, and to a certain extent civil
society groups are mute on the issue or even
actively discourage discussion of the issue.
Child marriage exposes girls to sexual abuse and
exploitation. Child marriage precludes girls from
attending school and thereby results in
nullification of the right to education, as well
as diminished employment opportunities. Child
marriage also has significant impacts on the
health situation of Romani girls and any children
they may bear. Rates of infant mortality are
increased and Romani girls faced increased risk
of complications during pregnancy and delivery,
which may lead to death. Girls who have fallen
victim to child marriage are rendered extremely
dependent on their husbands and husbands’
families and are therefore at high risk of
poverty and/or further exploitation in the event
of any subsequent disruption to the family.(4)
Victims of child marriage also face heightened
vulnerability to domestic violence. Indeed, as
the case of D.M. and M.S. shows, persons
negatively affected by these practices are not
only the girls themselves, but countless others,
starting with (but not limited to) the child
groom.
Trafficking in Human Beings
Poverty, discrimination and marginalisation are
entangled factors making Romani women and
children particularly vulnerable to trafficking
in human beings. Many Roma continue to struggle
to fulfil their basic needs such as food and
housing and face difficulties in obtaining
identity documents (such as birth certificates)
necessary to gain access to basic social
services. Furthermore, patriarchal traditions
that put women in a subordinated role to men
place female members of these communities at
particularly high risk of falling prey to
trafficking. Special attention needs to be paid
to combating the exploitation of girls, as milder
forms of exploitation such as forced begging are
sometimes an entry to more severe forms of
exploitation such as sexual exploitation. Certain
instances of trafficking occur as a result of a
lack of knowledge and misinformation on the part
of the family. States should work to combat all
the factors (internal and external) that increase
the vulnerability of Roma to trafficking
including by combating corruption and identifying
victims. Prosecution of the victim for crimes
related to illegal entry to the country or
similar should be avoided, and programmes should
be developed to ensure that any and all returns
to countries of origin take place with due
consideration to the maximum dignity and safety of the
victim.
Inequality
Romani women face compound discrimination on the
basis of race and sex. School segregation and
employment discrimination are reported in many
countries of Europe. Many Romani women work in
the informal economy without access to social
benefits or other forms of social protection. A
recent study carried out by Open Society
Institute found that 54 percent of Romani women
in Romania worked informally in jobs that
provided no benefits or formal work agreements.
On October 4, the ERRC will publish a
pan-European report on Roma and access to health
care, highlighting among other things
discrimination issues facing Romani women in
particular in the health care systems of
Europe.(5) Developments in the field of
anti-discrimination law in Europe in recent years
have not been matched by comparable gains by Romani
women.
Policies addressing inequality between women and
men tend to disregard the particular issues
facing Romani women. This can be linked to the
fact that political representation of Romani
women remains extremely low nearly everywhere. In
Hungary, two Romani women were elected as
European Parliamentarians, providing an important
voice for Romani women. Representation at the
European level has yet to be matched at national
level. Not a single Romani woman is currently
serving a term in any national parliament in any
European country. Representation of Romani women
at local level is similarly weak.
Conclusion
Human rights progress concerning Roma generally
is impossible without significant advances in the
field of Romani women’s rights. Systemic abuses
by states and extreme harms carried out in the
name of “traditional values” need once and for
all to be ended. In the course of the ERRC’s work
on women’s rights we have witnessed a pattern:
The courage of Romani women in challenging
violence and human rights violations is met with
only limited support by NGOs; the silence of
government officials; family and community
pressure to capitulate to harms; and law
enforcement and other officials respond to
reports of human rights abuse with humiliating or
demeaning comments, as well as by refusing to
undertake any effective action to secure the
dignity of the victims. To change this situation
once and for all, unambiguous commitments putting
human rights first are required from the highest
levels. Governments of the OSCE region are called
upon to make and act upon such commitments.
(1)
(2) Research by the European Roma Rights Centre,
the Roma Center of Skopje, and UNIFEM, involving
a group of young Romani women undertaking
research toward a submission to the United
Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women, 2004.
(3) Council of Europe report on forced marriages
and child marriages, at:
(4) For more information on the negative impacts
on girls of child marriages please see UNICEF
2005 Report Early Marriage: A Harmful Traditional
(5) European Roma Rights Centre, “Ambulance Not
on the Way: The Disgrace of Health Care for Roma
in Europe”, October 2006, available by contacting the
offices of the
ERRC.