No Compromise with the Universality of Human Rights - Interview with Anna Karamanou

22 July 2004

In April 2004, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) held an interview with Ms Anna Karamanou,¹ Member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities at the European Parliament.

ERRC: Within the EU institutions, is there a clear understanding of the problems facing Romani women? Has there been any surveys, reports, etc., focusing on Romani women? Are there cur-rently discussions about developing programmes targeting Romani women in particular?

Anna Karamanou: I think understanding of these problems is in-creasing. The Enlarge-ment will further boost European Institutions' in-terest in combating dis-crimination. The Com-mittee on Women's Rights and Equal Oppor-tunities of the European Parliament, for example, has already invited the European Roma Information Office (ERIO) to testify about Romani womens' problems. How-ever, at this stage, I don't think the problems of the minorities in Europe are very high on the po-litical agenda. We have to intensify our efforts in order to increase awareness and sensitivity in the EU and therefore promote implementation of mi-nority programmes. We know that the EU has an interest in solving the problems of minorities and creating a common space for freedom, equality and respect for human rights. Human rights are a basic value of the EU, as is evident by its inclusion in all major European documents, as well as in the Preamble of the draft EU Constitution.

ERRC: In general, to what extent have minority women benefited so far from equal opportunity policies in the EU? Have there been any studies to assess the impact of equal opportunity poli-cies on minority women?

A.K.: I don't think minority women have had ad-equate access to gender equality programmes. I don't think there has been special interest in the problems of minority women in general. The Com-mittee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportuni-ties has made reports on the problems of women, including Romani women, and we have tried to give prominence to their concerns. Nevertheless, despite our efforts, little progress has been made. This pertains not only to the situation of Romani women but also to the situation of women be-longing to religious minorities; women from Is-lamic countries; women coming from places where severe human rights violations are taking place, or even women belonging to some groups who have brought along practices which violate women's rights, such as genital mutilation. We know that this hideous practice is taking place within the borders of the EU and I don't think much has been done to tackle these problems. Violations of basic rights occur also within the Romani community, such as forced marriage, for example. We know that there is violence against Romani women. Even though violence against women is universal, the structure of some mi-nority communities is more patriarchal thus en-couraging such abominable practices.

ERRC: How can we avoid the reinforcement of anti-Romani stereotypes while carrying on an open discussion on human rights violations taking place within the community, such as do-mestic violence and other violations of womens' rights?

A.K.: I believe that only through an open, sincere, public dialogue we can find functioning solutions for such complicated problems. Dialogue has to take place within the EU institutions and within the Romani community. The dialogue can be pro-moted by Romani women themselves. This is the only way to avoid the reinforcement of stereotypes, because stereotypes are based on ignorance and dialogue promotes knowledge and understanding of our share in the problem.
Certain communities have different perceptions of the respect for human rights. What the rest of us may consider a violation of human rights, in the Romani community may be considered a privilege. For example, challenging the practice of fathers to select a husband for their daughter is regarded, by some Romani people, as a violation of the father's rights. We need to understand the roots of human rights violations and the whole structure of the mi-nority community, in order to have an effective policy. We cannot judge minorities all the time ac-cording to our own standards. On the other hand, we must bear in mind that human rights are univer-sal and there can be no compromise. As regards the Roma community, we have to, first and fore-most, improve their living conditions and level of education.We have to recognise full citizenship for Roma, full access to education and decent housing, in order to combat the feeling of exclusion they ex-perience and promote their sense of belonging to our communities, of sharing our values and thus re-specting such universally accepted human rights.

ERRC: One serious obstacle in implementing ef-fective Romani policies has been the lack of data about the state of Roma in various sectoral fields. This same problem applies to data about minority/Romani women. Are you aware of col-lection of data disaggregated both by ethnic-ity and gender within the EU?

A.K.: We need to act on EU level and on national level. We have to cooperate with local authorities if we want to have a clear picture. It is true that there is complete lack of data. We don't even know the numbers of Roma. If we don't know how many they are, how can we have data on their living and working conditions? We need research on Roma and I think this is a responsibility of the EU and the Eurobarometer.

Furthermore, the history of Roma is not known in Europe. We know that they are not all the same, even within one national state there are differences in language, in traditions. Since the 1st of May, we have millions of Romani European citizens. It is a high time we learnt more about them.

Roma add to the cultures of Europe. We have to preserve their culture as part of the multitude of cultures in Europe. At the same time, we have to ensure that Roma have access to material wealth, to educational wealth, and to full enjoyment of human rights. This development will be a benefit for Europe. It is not enough not to discriminate against Roma. We have to recognise their right to be themselves.

Endnotes:

1. More information about Ms Anna Karamanou can be found at: www.karamanou.gr.