B Explanatory memorandum by Ms Kovács,
rapporteur
1 Introduction
1. First of all, I would like to congratulate my fellow
rapporteur, Mr Berényi, on his excellent and comprehensive report.
2. In my opinion, I would like to focus on the triple discrimination
Roma women and girls face: as Roma by the wider community, and as
women and girls by both the wider and their own community.
3. This discrimination involves not only the forced sterilisations
practised in some countries mentioned by Mr Berényi, but also forced
and arranged child marriages which constitute a human rights violation
and lead to very substantial high-school drop-out rates, as well
as early pregnancies and other negative consequences. In addition,
Roma girls and women are forced into gender-specific roles both
inside and outside their own community, with bad effects on their
autonomy, health, possibility to work outside the house, and their
general well-being.
4. Roma women need social and legal support to improve their
socio-economic status and to ensure their access to education and
health as preconditions for employment, as well as protection from
the above- mentioned triple discrimination.
2 Violence against Roma women
5. Violence against Roma women is systematic and widespread
and takes place both within and outside their community. Within
the community, violence against women often takes the form of domestic
violence. A great number of Roma women report having been victims
of domestic violence at the hands of their husbands, in many cases
for long periods of time.
6. Different forms of domestic violence against women and girls
are reported, including: early and forced marriages, rape and marital
rape, physical, economic and verbal abuse. The reasons given for
staying in abusive relationships are: fear of shame and stigmatisation
from the family and community, economic dependency, lack of property
or other places to go and hesitation to “break the family”. In many
cases, Roma women also lack marriage certificates, and are thus
subject only to common law.
7. Roma tradition dictates that when a woman marries she should
abandon her house and move into the house of her husband and in-laws.
In case of separation, the family of the woman may not allow her
to move back into her previous household forcing her to stay in
the abusive relationship. In those cases in which the couple moves
into their own household, the property is in almost all cases legally
owned by the husband which forces the woman to stay.
3 Education of Roma girls
8. Roma girls face a number of barriers in accessing
education as reflected in higher illiteracy rates among Roma women
compared to Roma men and significantly higher ones compared to non-Roma
men and women (fewer than half of all Roma girls in Europe have
more than a primary education). Barriers commonly faced by Roma
women are based on high rates of poverty and patriarchal traditions
which result in lower expectations for Roma girls to complete their
education. Roma girls are burdened with family obligations (such
as household tasks, or looking after younger siblings) from a very
early age. Also, the tradition of remaining a virgin until marriage
(reinforced by the practice of virginity testing) is still very
common among Roma families and is closely linked to high-school
drop-out rates of Roma girls in puberty. Their families fear that
defloration can happen in schools which would bring “shame” to the
girl and her family.
9. The clash between education and the tradition of early marriage
should be a central matter. The problem of discrimination against
Roma women must be explored further from the standpoint of the negative
impact upon girls who must forsake personal education in favour
of shouldering family responsibilities due to the tradition of early
marriage combined with teen pregnancy.
4 Health of Roma women and girls
10. The inequality reinforced by gender-specific structures
further limits Roma women’s opportunities to enjoy the highest attainable
standards of health. In many instances, lack of equal opportunities
to access health care is aggravated by the disadvantaged position
of Roma women in comparison to Roma men in social fields such as
education and employment. As a result of fewer opportunities to
access the labour market and lower educational levels, Roma women
are more likely to be excluded from health insurance. Exclusion
from the health care system has a disproportionate impact on Roma
women’s health.
11. Discrimination against Roma women in the area of health care
is particularly evident in the areas of reproductive and maternal
health and emergency care due to these being the most commonly used
health care services. There is a particular reluctance to see the
gynaecologist as a result of shame caused by a patriarchal education.
12. Particular attention should be paid to the health education
of adolescents, including information and counselling on all methods
of family planning, since a very small number of Roma women use
contraception and the number of abortions among them is very high.
The main reason for this is the lack of information about different
anti-contraceptive methods and opposition from husbands.
13. Advice on family planning should be included in the education
process and family codes developed which guarantee women's rights
to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their
children. It should include a proper understanding of maternity
as a social function and the recognition of the common responsibility
of women in the upbringing and development of their children.
14. Coercive sterilisation has been a particularly problematic
practice imposed on Roma women, in particular in certain central
and eastern European countries (though there have also been some
cases in Sweden). Sometimes described as a hold-over from communist
times, sterilisation without prior full and informed consent has
been performed as recently as 2007 and 2008. It is hard to know
exactly how many Roma women have been subjected to this serious
human rights violation, since it is hard for the victims to report the
crime for many reasons – many women find out late, if at all, that
they have been sterilised, and resulting feelings of shame and unworthiness
can lead them to keep it even from their family, and even more so
from the wider community or from lawyers. In addition, admittance
of wrongdoing and apologies have often been proffered only after
lengthy (court and ombudsman) proceedings, with little hope of winning
damages. It can be hoped that, following recent findings at international
level, for example by the CEDAW committee, this will change and
victims will start finding the heart to come forward and claim –
and receive – damages – as happened recently in Hungary, Slovakia
and the Czech Republic.
5 Measures to address multiple discrimination affecting
Roma women
15. Health policies for Roma women should take into account
the range of factors influencing higher exposure of Roma women to
health risk factors as well as disproportionate exclusion from access
to health care. Governments should undertake the following:
- examine how ethnicity and socio-economic
status affect Roma women’s health;
- ensure that existing laws and policies in favour of gender
equality include provisions for preventing and addressing the multiple
barriers female members of minority groups face in exercising their
fundamental human rights;
- provide on a regular basis outreach services to reach
Roma women and girls who otherwise have little access to medical
services;
- implement patient-oriented educational health programmes
for Roma women;
- ensure the availability of continuing medical education
taking into account social and cultural factors with regard to the
health of Roma women;
- develop, support and evaluate interventions for preventing
violence, including domestic violence. Governments should provide
protection to domestic violence victims in terms of intervention, investigation
and assistance, taking into account the specific challenges and
situation of Roma women.
16. Regarding coercive sterilisation, Roma women are particularly
vulnerable to abuse by medical practitioners at the time of pregnancy
and childbirth. Practices of extreme abuse include death after childbirth, serious
damage of the women’s health, as well as forceful termination of
the women’s reproductive capacity through coercive sterilisation.
Roma women are at risk of being subjected to sterilisation without
their full and informed consent, without an explanation about the
intervention, its nature, possible risks, or what the consequence
of being sterilised would be. Instances of coercive sterilisation
of Roma women have occurred in a number of Council of Europe member
states.
17. Governments should ensure to women appropriate services in
connection with pregnancy, confinement and the post-natal period.
Acceptable health care services should be delivered in a way which
ensures women’s fully informed consent, respects their dignity,
and guarantees the taking into account of their needs and perspectives.
In order to remedy the damage done to victims of coercive sterilisation
as well as preventing occurrence of similar extreme violations of
patient’s rights, governments concerned should undertake the following:
- establish an independent commission
to investigate the allegations and complaints of coercive sterilisation;
thoroughly investigate reported cases and make available procedures
for women who believe they have been abusively sterilised, to report
the issue. These procedures should ensure privacy rights. It is
necessary to provide justice to all victims of coercive sterilisations;
- review the domestic legal order to ensure that it is in
harmony with international standards in the field of reproductive
rights;
- promote a culture of seeking full and informed consent
for all relevant medical procedures.
18. Forced marriages and child marriages should no longer take
place in our societies that uphold human rights and the rights of
the child. We should be aware that in a lot of European countries,
women and girls in Roma communities are victims of child marriages.
Governments have a responsibility to protect and preserve minority
cultures such as that of the Roma, but an even greater responsibility
to prevent traditions which harm individuals – in this case, Roma
girls.
19. It is a violation of the human rights of these women and girls
that, under the cloak of respect for the culture and traditions
of the Roma community, there are authorities which tolerate forced
marriages and child marriages although they violate the fundamental
rights of each and every victim. It is necessary for national authorities
to change their national legislation (if they have not already done
so) and to firmly enforce the law, but it is also necessary to work
towards a cultural change, where the whole Roma community evolves
and joins the fight against the human rights violation which is
an early or forced marriage.
20. Roma women should be guaranteed the exercise and enjoyment
of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality
with men. Their legal status should not be linked to marriage, making
them dependent on their husbands, marriage and family relations.
It is necessary to assert the equal rights and obligations of Roma
women and men with regard to the choice of spouse, parenthood, personal
rights and command over property. They need to be enabled to choose
a spouse freely and to enter into marriage only with free and full
consent. They must have the same rights and responsibilities during
marriage and at its dissolution; as well as parents, in matters
relating to their children; and the same personal rights as husband and
wife, including the right to choose a family name, a profession
and an occupation.
21. Thus, the national parliaments of the Council of Europe member
states should adapt their domestic legislation, if they have not
already done so, in order to:
- fix
at or raise to 18 years the minimum statutory age of marriage for
women and men;
- make it easier for forced and child marriages to be prevented,
detected and annulled and to bring to justice the perpetrators of
rape within such marriages, as well as those who aided and abetted
the contracting of such a marriage;
- take a number of specific practical measures, such as:
making it compulsory for every marriage to be declared and entered
by the competent authority in an official register; institute an
interview between the registrar and the bride and groom prior to
the celebration of the marriage and allow a registrar who has doubts
about the free and full consent of either or both parties to summon
either or both of them separately to another meeting.
