ERRC Statement at OSCE HDIM: Romani Women’s
Rights
Statement on Romani Women’s Rights
On the
Occasion of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
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.
Endnotes: