Introduction
Physical abuse against Romani populations has been widely transcribed, particularly during the Decade of Roma Inclusion from 2005–2015. Few reports, however, focus on the experiences of young Romani women, especially those who have suffered abuse at the hands of their own communities as well as the state. This paper’s purpose is to elucidate the truth on the problems of injustice associated with unconsented female sterilization, underage arranged marriages, and sex slavery plaguing the girls and women of Romani backgrounds in Eastern European countries. Drawing upon journal and newspaper articles, statistics, and development reports, this paper will shed light on the violation of human rights within this population on the above topics. It will show that the experiences of Romani women are overshadowed in the reports to the extent that their experiences are not valued in Romani society. In doing so, these reports, purposed to “help the cause,” continue to silence Romani women within a framework of Romani patriarchy. Through the writing of this paper, the individuals oppressed by these social maladies will be given a voice in order to catalyze the change needed for Romani females to reclaim their human dignities.
Decade of Inclusion and its Impact by Country
The Decade of Roma Inclusion began on February 5, 2005 when prime ministers of Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia signed a document titled the “Decade Declaration” in an attempt to challenge the discrimination and gaps between Romani people and the rest of society (Todorović and Dordević, 166). The World Bank, the Open Society Institute (OSI), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), among several other Romani organizations, partnered together to help expose the innumerable injustices plaguing the Roma throughout Europe. Researchers estimate that 6.8 to 8.7 million Roma live in the European Union today, making them one of the largest minorities within the continent of Europe (Kirova, 1). However, it is impossible to have an entirely accurate count of how many Romani people live in the European Union and other countries around the world as they do not reveal their ethnic Romani background— with it comes a negative connotation the world has grown to complacently accept as truth. Without a politician or group of people willing to stand up and challenge the misnomers attributed to this ethnic minority group, myths will wrongly be considered truths, and further ostracism is bound to take place. If changes are not made, the Romani people will continue concealing their true lineage, thereby preventing policymakers from knowing in which countries and regions these people are living. A dangerous side effect accompanying a lack of true census is the absence of funding allotted to educational, medical, and communal improvements for the Romani people. Additionally, a false count of population creates issues for monetary and tax purposes. The developmental aid given to communities to be used for the Roma will be distributed elsewhere, for governmental workers do not see the Roma as members of the state. Thus, the state cannot give funding topeople it does not recognize are present in their region. Furthermore, developmental structure is too immense to be effective because the experiences are different in each country.Developmental aid can be broken down into sectors of “education, social protection, healthcare, housing, and employment” (Devex). The minority groups in each country require the monetary assistance provided by such aid, yet the process is neither well regulated nor enforced. This means the Romani people within their states continue to suffer harsh living conditions without hope for improvement. Because of the inaccurate count of the Roma, developmental aid cannot be properly allocated to sectors such as education, healthcare, and housing, depending on what each country needs assistance with most.
Both men and women suffer harsh abuse within their communities as well as from the surrounding areas. At any given time, they are misrepresented in the media as thieves, drug dealers, and dishonest citizens. They are forced to withstand the pain of having racial slurs shouted at them from those of different ethnic backgrounds. Passersby spit on the Roma, sending them the message that even animals are more worthy of respect than they are. Romea.cz, the most-visited Romani news source in the Czech Republic, features several stories of the cruel and inhumane actions towards the Roma, such as the aforementioned practice of spitting on these people as well as countless instances of brutal assaults of the Romani people that are written off as misdemeanors by law enforcement (Kostlán). As long as state authorities choose to turn a blind eye to the wicked injustices plaguing their most defenseless citizens, these conditions will continue to tyrannize the Roma.
In addition, Romani people have a long-standing history of poverty and oppression. Since they are considered social outcasts, the cycle of marginalization has repeated itself for several generations. While both males and females endure the wrath of other ethnic groups, women are further stripped of their dignity and abused within their own groups. Girls as young as ten years old are given away and sometimes sold by their parents in an arranged marriage to a man potentially thirty or more years older than they. Alexandra Oprea, a female Romani lawyer living in New York and contributor of the Roma Women’s Initiative, paints the picture of a young, twelve-year-old girl’s arranged marriage by using the phrase “from the dolls to the bedroom” (Oprea, 38). Opera’s vivid portrayal of a twelve-year-old’s arranged marriage depicts the forced maturation of a child bride: from a minor in need of her parents who still enjoys younger activities, such as playing with dolls, to a wife in need of the stamina to handle the responsibility of keeping a house in order and to serve her husband as expected of her patriarchal society. Is it ethical to strip an innocent girl of her childhood to appease the physical and emotional desires of a man sometimes three or four times her age? Another unscrupulous practice is the forced sterilization inflicted upon both teenagers and women of childbearing years. In many cases, these women were unaware of the procedure until they attempted to expand their families and could not become pregnant. In many cases, a physician makes the decision to prevent a young woman from being able to have children in the future, which breaks the basic medical human right of autonomy. A woman can be stripped from making her own decisions about raising a family because one person decides to sterilize her without consent. This injustice is taking place in highly populated Romani countries such as Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary and has been occurring without objection from governmental officials since the early 1900s (Albert, 1–4). Moreover, many women are sold into sex slavery and end up spending the rest of their lives caught in the vicious cycle of prostitution. The International Journal of Child Abuse & Neglect is a publication released by the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), an international and multidisciplinary organization focusing primarily on the prevention and treatment of child abuse victims (ISPCAN). This journal acknowledges that the majority of human trafficking instances in Europe begin mostly in the continent’s eastern countries with children and women alike being given false hope by trusted community members about the potential employment opportunities that await them. In reality, they are fed lies before they are sold and transported across country borders (Gjermani, 941). The already vulnerable Romani females struggle to re-acclimate to a normal life, should they be fortunate enough to find a way to escape. Drawing on the limited research available, this paper functions to give the aforementioned Romani women a voice in hopes of pushing states and communities towards challenging the unethical and maleficent practices women in this culture must endure. The need for change is urgent, and individuals who dismiss the plight must consider themselves practitioners of oppression.
Sterilization, Child Brides, and Human Trafficking
While much research has yet to be completed, the limited resources available offer powerful stories as well as proposed solutions to the current dilemmas plaguing women in Eastern European countries. In her article on juvenile marriages and child brides, Jelena Čvorović writes that, “in general, arranged juvenile marriage results in loss of adolescence, imposed sexual relationships, and abrupt individual development” (Čvorović, 34). She continues by pointing out that, because of the the child bride’s age and developmental phase, sex within the marriage cannot be treated as consensual. These women lack the basic right to make their own decisions as well as the access to contraceptives, meaning that the husbands have ultimate patriarchal power over them (Čvorović, 34). Alexey Pamporov, a faculty member within the Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, seconds these statements through his research on the bride-price tradition within Romani culture. When a young girl is arranged to be married, her parents receive money from the family of her future husband. Tradition mandates that the girl’s father remain at the center of the process of selling his daughter to an older gentleman. Pamporov compares the exchange to that of buying a donkey, making the connection between valuing animals and women similarly within Romani society (Pamporov, 475). He writes, “determinants of the bride-price are: (1) the appearance of the bride; (2) herpractical skills; (3) the reputation of her family,” among other factors (Pamporov, 473). The comparison of Romani women to animals and the considerations that help to determine for how much a bride will be sold is analogous to the atrocity of slavery. These young girls and women are adjudicated based. With segregation at the forefront of humanitarian discussions, how is it that an entire population of vulnerable, objectified young females has remained disregarded?
Razvan Amariei, a male contributor to the exposé literature on Romani female oppression, further exposes the harsh reality of child brides through his telling of a story in graphic detail of a forced marriage betweentwo underage individuals—an event that many in the community called a “rape” rather than a wedding. The Sibiu Child Protection Agency is a Romani sector of the Sibiu County Social Welfare and Child Protection, which provides temporary housing for domestic violence victims and support services for those targeted (DGASPC Sibiu). The aforementioned agency took action by forcing the underage couple mentioned above to separate and remain under parental care until the legal age of 16; however, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights deems the marriage legal because it respects ethnic traditions. Amariei writes of the attempts being made to create a safe environment for young women that prevent child marriage from taking place (Amariei, 19). On the issue concerning forced and coerced female sterilization, Adriana Lamačkova and Christina Zampas, contributors to the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, focus on the ethical and legal rights in reproductive health by covering international human rights law in detail. Lamačkova is a senior legal advisor for Europe in the International Legal Program, and Zampas is a senior legal advisor at the Center for Reproductive Rights. These two women cite three principles regarding the practice of involuntary sterilization by writing:
“…compulsory sterilization negatively affects women’s physical and mental health and violates their rights to reproductive autonomy; women must be able to make informed decisions about contraceptive use, and must have access to sexuality education and family-planning services; women have the right to be fully informed of their options in agreeing to treatment, including potential benefits, adverse effects, and alternatives; and states should ensure access to good-quality health care for women, delivered in a way that ensures informed consent, respects a woman’s dignity, and is sensitive to her needs and perspectives” (Lamačkova and Zampas, 116).
Elena Golovora, a victim of forced sterilization herself, further supports the words above by recounting her personal experience with this practice. Between 1971 and 1991 doctors would sterilize women during Cesarean sections or abortions in an attempt to reduce the Romani population; these women claim to have been given documents they were forced to sign without understanding the content (Stoyanova, 1). Scenarios such as these violate the basic human rights Lamačkova and Zampas define through their article.
Examining the risk of child sexual exploitation (CSE) patterns in regards to forced prostitution in Romani cultures, Dr. Kate D’Arcy and Isabelle Brodie write to inform other countries of the exploitation and trafficking taking place in Bulgaria and the UK. These two authors acknowledge the skewedness of the data, as far as the true number of women being sexually manipulated into this practice, but warn that the data is enough to raise concern. They compare information and statistics in order to make recommendations for the future regarding “prevention, protection efforts, and prosecution strategies” for those involved in the process of human trafficking (D’Arcy, 1-9). In his masters’ thesis dissertation, “Invisible Victims: An Analysis of Human Trafficking Vulnerability and Prevention in Bulgarian Romani Communities,” Eric Helms attempts to find the underlying reason for Romani women accounting for the majority of human trafficking victims in Eastern Europe. He also defines and explains the current human trafficking prevention efforts of both governmental and non-governmental agencies as well as offering suggestions on how to change this statistic for the future (Helms, 1). Some of these suggestions are to “develop local, regional, and national networks of Romani Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and representatives” and to “develop and implement Roma-specific migration prevention activity” that would include providing information to the Romani migrants about the risks of human trafficking and how to minimize this risk when migrating (Helms, 74–76). More importantly, Helms proposes increasing “governmental accountability through the use of infringement proceedings against violating member states” (Helms,81). Each of these actions would propose to decrease the scarily high number of Romani women who are victimized by sex slavery. These men and women, who have already published information regarding Romani women and the tragedies they are forced to endure at the hands of their states and communities, should be commended for their efforts in sparking usually unspoken conversations that can only improve the quality of life for these sisters, daughters, mothers, and grandmothers.
Impact of Decade According to DecadeWatch
Many questions arise when contemplating the effect of the Decade of Roma Inclusion in relation to the way Romani women are treated in Eastern Europe today. Due to the sparse quantity of research and information available, one must draw upon the miniscule amount of statistics and narratives of these people in order to gain answers. While the Decade of Roma Inclusion was designed with the intention of changing stereotypes and oppressive actions towards the Romani people, was it effective in its mission? What organizations are responsible for enforcing the goals of this time period, and are there repercussions for the countries that choose not to abide by such a mission? Lastly, are Romani women still subjected to arranged marriages as young girls to older men; forcibly sterilized to control the population; and entered into sex slavery by way of being tricked into thinking they are setting themselves and their families up for a better life, only to be transported across borders and used for their bodies?
DecadeWatch, supported by the Open Society Institute and the World Bank, is made up of Roma activists and researchers who work to assess the successes and shortcomings of the Decade of Roma Inclusion. This organization evaluates countries’ and their governments’ involvement in the goal of minimizing or eliminating Romani oppression within their borders by rating the involvement on a scale of 0 to 4, with 4 reflecting a standard of that which is achievable, and 0 reflecting lack of collaboration with this movement (DecadeWatch, 14). The purpose of assessing these countries and comparing them against one another is to shed light on those that are not partaking in the change initiative (DecadeWatch, 14). Jonathan Moore, ambassador for Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), states, “not only do appropriate financial resources need to be budgeted for such efforts, but governmental authorities need to mainstream Romani communities into the decision making process. Government—from the lowest community levels to the highest state levels—must work for all of its citizens, including minorities and the marginalized” (Moore, 16). By making this statement, Ambassador Moore calls on authority institutions throughout the countries with the intention of making and holding them responsible for creating positive changes. However, for Romani women suffering at the hands of their own states and communities, getting authorities to recognize their wrongdoings is challenging.
In a statistical journal report published in 2007, DecadeWatch assesses the progress of the Decade of Roma Inclusion in the efforts from 2005–2006. Overall, this report claims the “assessment finds significant progress across all countries, though more in some than in others, and, within countries, more in some areas of action than in others” (DecadeWatch, 18). They acknowledge that relevant institutions and Decade Action Plans are in place alongside a framework for discussing Romani inclusion within governments and civil society. While DecadeWatch has noticed slight changes beginning to take hold, they discuss the challenge of gaining data on the Roma in regards to education, housing, and healthcare (DecadeWatch, 19). With limited representations of this culture as a whole, DecadeWatch and other organizations struggle to create accurate statistics that can be used to make improvements for the Roma. In recognizing the program’s shortcomings, DecadeWatch implements a precedence for moving forward in order to make the final years of the Decade of Roma Inclusion successful. They seek to decentralize the mission by involving municipalities at a level closer to the civilians; to adopt operational plans backed by concrete and credible funding and implementation; to develop systemic policies with the assistance of Romani input; and to show political leadership that guides citizens to fight for their fundamental human rights. Despite having a blueprint for success, the plan has some possible limitations. For the Decade of Roma Inclusion to prove prosperous, the governments within the selected Eastern European countries must cooperate. Without governmental cooperation, changes cannot be made and carried through to break down barriers of dichotomy between nationalist and Romani groups within the borders. Creating an “us vs. them” standard of living leads to segregation through racial profiling and crafted stereotypes. Governments must take the first step towards demanding that all citizens have basic human rights. If those who set the groundwork for marginalization are unwilling to recognize their shortcomings, citizens of those nations will continue to carry out the oppression they believe to be acceptable.
Personal Stories of Women Authors
The next step in the process, through the minimal resources available, is looking at whether the personal narratives are improving in the years during and after the Decade of Roma Inclusion. In the article titled “Forced and Coerced Sterilization of Women in Europe,” Christina Zampas and Adriana Lamačkova write that the principal reason for unconsented sterilization in Eastern Europe is for eugenic purposes (Lamačkova and Zampas, 164). Eugenics is defined as “a science that tries to improve the human race by controlling which people become parents” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Allowing physicians and government officials the ability to control the population in such a way that only the most favorable genes are ensured to reproduce is a practice one may find eerily similar to that of Nazi Germany (circa 1933–1945). The Nazis believed Germans to be “racially superior” and the Jews to be “inferior,” thereby targeting this group and others perceived to be racially inferior. The Roma, disabled, and homosexuals were among those killed (United States Memorial Holocaust Museum). While the mass execution of Jewish men and women was terminated after Germany’s defeat in World War II, Romani women remain unconsented participants in ethnic cleansing. These actions of Eastern European countries create a dichotomy that sends the untrue yet perilous message to other world powers of the worthlessness of Romani women. In addition, coerced sterilization for the purposes of population manipulation and control provides more power to an already patriarchal society distrusted by the Romani women. This practice is ethically corrupt in many ways, as it does not allow women the autonomous decision of becoming a mother; it is maleficent in that both emotional and physical harm are inflicted upon these women; and it is an injustice to permit an individual or group of people to decide which genes are ethnically favorable. Tolerating power that transcends to oppression of a select culture strips these women of their dignity by refusing to acknowledge that they are worthy of even the most basic human rights.
Jelena Čvorović, an author with the Institute of Ethnography in the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, published an article in 2011 titled “Juvenile Marriages, Child-Brides and Infant Mortality Among Serbian Gypsies.” Within her piece she writes that in order to ensure virginity and chastity, girls are married at an early age and, in doing so, are denied the right to choose whom and when to marry. She exposes that many Romani girls are given over to their husbands before they have finished puberty. Marrying these adolescents at their young ages places them at risk for limited access to education, healthcare, and family planning. Čvorović writes, “Women in general have little in decisions regarding their lives and future. When it comes to the family violence, almost half of the female informants reported that their husbands have beaten them up […] while the younger women reported more and recent beatings than the older ones” (Čvorović, 34). Not only do arranged marriages before girls can make their own decisions cause them to mature more quickly, but they also allow them to suffer abuse at the hands of their husbands, which, in these patriarchal societies, is tolerated due to the wives’ assumed duties of making their spouses happy. Once more, Romani women’s basic human rights are overlooked. Because this information was released in 2011, towards the end of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, political activists need to question whether the goals determined by the governments in Eastern Europe in collaboration with DecadeWatch are being achieved, or whether the previous years’ efforts were insignificant and of no avail.
In 2008, Eglantina Gjermeni, faculty of social sciences at the University of Tirana and Women’s Center of Albania, studied the patterns of child trafficking involving Albanian children, and learned a majority of children involved in the sex slave industry were of Romani descent. She noted the children at greatest risk of trafficking were limitedly educated and from penurious families with a history of violence. Trusted members of their communities were usually the ones who lured the children by promising work to financially assist their families. Not only do the children learn to fear respected members of their communities, but they also return home with psychological distress that makes reestablishing relationships with family and friends extremely difficult (Gjermeni, 941). To change the deep-rooted practice that has become socially acceptable for people to make money, those involved in these exchanges need to decide that these young women are worthy of basic human rights. Those in authority need to be willing to both sacrifice wealth, power, and status and address the atrocity of objectifying and selling the bodies of children for sex that is taking place in Romani communities.
Due to the minimal publications available regarding the oppression of Romani women in Eastern Europe, it is important to note that women have written the majority of the literature. Topics of forced sterilization, child marriage, and human trafficking cause gross discomfort. The primary way such nauseating situations can be changed is by raising awareness. The women authors cited above are of Romani descent and most of them have either studied in or currently teach at the university level in Eastern Europe. While some of these women are presently living in the United States, they assist in raising awareness of the issues through research and personal experience. The bravery of women to speak out within and about a culture in which most females are frequently silenced and dismissed deserves to be recognized.
Concluding Thoughts
The Decade of Roma Inclusion was formally closed September 11, 2015 at the 28th International Steering Committee Meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Secretariat Foundation). With this initiative’s end should come evident improvements in the way Eastern European countries treat the Romani culture and its women. In evaluating the true successes of these ten years, the Decade of Roma Inclusion Secretariat Foundation collected data and met with politicians and community leaders to assess the successes and failures of the initiative. Tano Bechev, a Roma activist, said, “If you speak to normal everyday people at the local level, many have no idea what the Decade was about—at the end of the Decade many people don’t know that there was a Decade” (Secretariat Foundation). Another Romani public figure whom this group interviewed was quoted as saying, “my hopes were very high, but unfortunately politicians are the same everywhere. Big promises, great words but after that when it comes to action, and actually delivering, we get very little, in fact often there is simply no action” (Secretariat Foundation). These two observations are incredibly alarming that two men, who were able to give a voice to the oppressed Roma men, women, and children and constantly fought battles with those in power and the state, would consider the Decade of Roma Inclusion to be unsuccessful. More importantly, the past ten years should have put a plan into action regarding how large governments and smaller agencies respond to oppression and encourage the change necessary to rid these countries of marginalizing women of Roma descent. Only by speaking out against the injustices towards women in Romani society can transformations begin to take hold. But if a ten-year failed attempt to make these changes a reality, what action can be taken moving forward? Only by speaking out against the injustices towards women in Romani society can transformations begin to take hold.
First and foremost, organizations such as the Secretariat Foundation and DecadeWatch have been meeting amongst themselves and with select political leaders to set an agenda for the upcoming years. Once these plans are in place, the responsibility of men within the Roma community must be to stand up to defend both their culture and community. The Romani women mentioned above have begun to raise awareness of the issues such as child marriage, human trafficking, and population control, but more than a few female voices are necessary to reverse the long-standing, deep-rooted oppression. In combination with these brave women, the world must hear from men, politicians, victims, and community leaders alike. If these women cannot count on their own husbands, fathers, and brothers to defend their basic human rights, on whom can they count? By not speaking out against the injustices plaguing Romani women, each person becomes a defendant of slavery and exploitation. Only when those privileged enough to have voice speak up for the defenseless will the abovementioned gruesome realities become horror stories of the past. The cycle of oppression must be shattered, and the time to catalyze this change is now.
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