E-Romnja
E-Romnja fights for the respect, integrity and dignity of Roma women.
E-Romnja is a Roma feminist, a-political and non-profit organization that fights for the rights of Roma women and girls.
In the name of tradition?
The awareness campaign brings to the forefront the issue of forced marriages as a form of gender-based violence and offers solutions for professionals and specialists in the public system in the field of prevention, intervention, combating different forms of abuse and violence, as well as in the fields of social assistance and child protection.
Through the campaign we aim to answer questions such as:
● What are the right steps to take better to protect victims of this type of gender-based violence?
● What should be avoided when intervening in such situations?
● How do we ensure the safety and protection of victims affected by this type of violence?
● How do we contribute to preventing and combating this form of gender-based violence?
Episode 1: Social Protection
Mario, a 16-year-old boy, is worried that his parents want to marry him off before his 17th birthday and is constantly told that he needs to get ready. He doesn't want to get married but doesn't know who to ask for help. He records a video on his phone and posts it on social media, hoping for help. The video goes viral among young people and eventually reaches a specialist from the town hall who decides to go to the young man's home to check the situation. Once there, the social worker has a chat with the parents, who say they want to protect Mario and make sure that as a young man he does not go down the wrong path. They believe that their son will be cared for and more responsible if he has a wife.
Episode 2: Judges motivating it as a cultural practice
Carmina was 10 years old and finishing the fourth grade, when in the summer of the end of that school year she was married to a 14-year-old boy. The parents of the two minors prepared everything. At the age of 12, the girl gave birth to a baby boy and that’s how she came to the attention of the authorities who reported the case ex officio. It was noted that the minor victim and the perpetrator had been lining together for a long time in the home of the victim’s parents. During all this time, it is recorded in the file that the victim had consensual sexual relations, this being approved by the parents of the two minors, without any investigation being conducted on the parents. The Prosecutor’s Office ordered the case to be dismissed given that a child resulted from the relashionship, the difference between the victim and the perpetrator did not exceed 3 years, and “considering the tradition of the Roma ethnic group according to which such relationships are encouraged.”
Episode 3: Police intervention
A father asks the Police for help after learning that his 14-year-old daughter who went to visit her mother who lives in another town, is in a difficult situation. A few days after the girl left for the mother's hometown, the father received a message telling him that his daughter had been "married" by her mother and will be leaving the country. Desperately, the father askes for help, files complaints with the poli e, both in the town of residence and in the town where the girl was last seen. The Police, together with the Child Protection Services, are taking steps to bring the girl to the hearings. In the presence of the mother at the hearings, the girl declares that she is not forcibly married and that she actually wants this. During all this time, the father has no contact with his daughter and although he hires a lawyer, his daughter is taken out of the country, without his knowledge or consent. A few months later, information emerges that the daughter is resident in another country, and the case is dismissed.
Episode 4: School/teachers involvement
Estera is a 15-year-old minor who goes to high school, has very good grades at school and participates in school competitions every year. She further wishes to go to college. She has a boyfriend, but her parents don't know about it. She is afraid to tell them, as they have forbidden her and said that they will withdraw her from school if they find out she is “not acting properly”. In fact, her older sister got married right after graduating from high school and she believes that she will have the same fate. The girl talks to the teacher about her fear just before the winter break, and she promises to talk to her parents after the holidays. During the holidays, the parents receive a visit from a family living in Norway who wants to marry off their 19-year-old son. Their plan is to return to Norway with the two newlyweds after the holidays.
sărbători. În timpul vacanței, părinții primesc vizita unei familii care locuiește în Norvegia și care dorește să-și căsătorească fiul în vârstă de 19 ani. Planul lor este ca după sărbători să se reîntoarcă în Norvegia cu cei doi tineri căsătoriți.
Episode 5: Psychological impact on children
Amalia is a 16-year-old girl with dreams and hopes like all teenage girls. Her dreams suddenly stopped. In the 7th grade she was withdraw from school, and for over 3 years she has been staying at home and has been taking care of her younger siblings, while her parents go to the marker to sell flowers. But she enjoyed going to school, being with her peers, learning. When she no longer showed up at school, no one cared. The teachers were not interested in her situation, neither were the Child Protection Services. “That’s their tradition” – her colleagues said to each other when she stopped coming to school. Her parents told her it was time to get married. They even found her a husband, a boy of her age. Amalia takes a handful of sleeping pills to avoid being forced into marriage. Frightened, her parents took her to the Emergency Room in time and, fortunately, the girl was saved. From the Emergency Room, Amalia was sent to the Psychiatry where she was hospitalized for a few days, during which time the girl came to trust of a young doctor to whom she confessed the reason why she wanted to take her days off. Amalia knew that she would be forced to get married, despite her protests, because the same thing happened to her sisters and cousins.
The head of the Psychiatry Department decides that there is no need to notify Child Protection or the Police, because “that’s how their tradition is”.
The awareness campaign "In the name of tradition?" is carried out by E-Romnja within the project "Reducing school dropout among Roma girls, through an intersectional approach" implemented with the support of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, Switzerland.
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