DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE ROMA AND EGYPTIAN POPULATION: THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE

The multiple forms of vulnerability of girls and women from these communities make it difficult to escape from abusers. Shelters are often the only way out.

Đurđa RADULOVIĆ

"I was forced to get married to a man I didn't love. I was only 17, and he was much older. My husband, my brother-in-law, and my father-in-law beat me. Later, my older son was also violent towards me", Enisa (name changed to protect identity), a Roma woman in her fifties, says for the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG).

She is thin and trembles when she speaks. Her life is suffering. She lost two of her five children, and two were born with disabilities. She takes care of them while her third child, a son, threatens her and behaves aggressively, making her life even more difficult.

Enisa managed to escape and leave her husband and his family. The Podgorica NGO Woman's Safe House (WSH) helped her. "I stayed there for a year. I know that my husband was trying to find me. Luckily, I was well protected", Enisa explains.

After she left the Woman's Safe House, she moved from Podgorica to a smaller municipality. With the help of humanitarian donations, a house was built for her, where she now lives with two children with developmental disabilities.

Now, her son, who learned behavior patterns from his father, grandfather, and uncle, continues abusing her. "His attitude towards me is such that I often thought of killing myself."

A high percentage of Roma and Egyptian women in shelters

"Almost every year, 30 percent of the residents are Roma and Egyptian women," Nada Jelovac, a psychologist at the Woman's Safe House, tells CIN-CG.

Of the 38 persons accommodated in WSH in 2023, 16 are Roma and Egyptian, Jelovac says.

In the Domestic Violence Shelter in Nikšić, supported by the national SOS line for victims of violence, there is also a large percentage of Roma women. "During 2023, out of a total of 50 women and children, 22 were from the Roma population," Nataša Međedović, executive coordinator of the shelter in Nikšić, says.

"The largest number of violence cases in the Roma community remain unreported and unsolved. Even after reporting, Roma women, in most cases, return to the abuser. Poverty is a major cause," Šejla Pepić, a representative of the Roma Council of Montenegro, that protects women's rights within the community, told CIN-CG.

As one of the most vulnerable groups, Roma women are at increased risk of domestic violence, Pepić explains. Due to poverty, lack of information and education, and deeply held patriarchal beliefs, Roma women are additionally threatened.

In the last five years, there has been no research on domestic violence in the community, and data collected ten years ago show that around 50 percent of Roma and Egyptian women considered domestic violence acceptable. The problem, according to CIN-CG interlocutors, is that women from this community often do not recognize violence.

Zumreta Nerda was a girl of Roma nationality whose death in 2022 shook Montenegro. Her unmarried husband, Dalibor Nikolić, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina living in Bar killed her. Zumreta suffered abuse for years. Although her family members reported her partner to the police for violence against her, she denied it out of fear. Zumreta grew up in a violent environment - her father killed her mother when she was a girl.

Exposed to a high degree of violence

"Roma women usually suffer long-term sexual, psychological, and physical violence. They are exposed to intense abuse and have less opportunity to leave a violent relationship," psychologist Jelovac says.

"Parents who accept their daughters to return to family home rarely take their children. According to the principles of patriarchy by which this community is governed, children belong to the father," Jelovac explains. She reminds that most of Montenegro's population also followed this patriarchal custom.

The SOS Shelter for victims of violence in Nikšić says that Roma women suffering violence do not have the support of their primary family to leave the abuser.

"Data from 2023 show that all women from the Roma and Egyptian communities in the SOS shelter were victims of intimate partner violence. Each was exposed to psychological and physical violence - their movement, contacts, and communication were restricted, and half were forbidden to use the telephone. Two-thirds were under pressure from the family to return to the abuser, and only a quarter had some form of family support, such as, for example, emotional support or temporary accommodation", Nataša Medojević stated.

In the Roma family, it is still considered that men and older community members should control women. That is why women in a Roma family can be exposed to violence throughout their lives without recognizing it, especially forms of psychological and economic violence; the study "Family violence in the Roma and Egyptian community in Montenegro" from 2014 states.

Most things have stayed the same since 2014.

"I am not allowed to go out alone; I have to report every step to my husband and when he is not there to my mother-in-law. The children are forced to follow me, to tell my mother-in-law where I was and what I was doing," a member of the Roma community who lives in a settlement in Podgorica told CIN-CG.

She is in constant fear of her mother-in-law and husband. "I can't do anything about it... I have to be careful of my actions," she explains. She lives in extreme poverty. She begs and hunts through garbage containers for her children, husband, and mother-in-law to survive...

Limited access to justice

Apart from the fact that they rarely decide to break the cycle of violence, Roma and Egyptian women have limited access to institutions that provide support, Medojević explains. That is why access to justice for RE women victims of violence is hard to come by. "In a situation of high traumatization when it is necessary to report violence, Roma and Egyptian women must make a statement exclusively in the language of the majority community, which can be an issue, given that it is most often not their native language," Medojević says.

For minor victims of child-arranged marriages often accompanied by violence, there is no long-term sustainable solution the state should provide: accommodation, recovery, and empowerment to get out of the violence and start a normal life, Medojević explains.

The Woman's Safe House explains that their wards of Roma and Egyptian nationality often do not have appropriate documentation - some are stateless. Still, many of those who have citizenship also need personal documents. That is why initiating any administrative process, including court proceedings, is significantly more difficult.

Among the women of the Roma and Egyptian community, there is distrust in the work of institutions due to the lack of timely response from the competent authorities, Pepić from the Roma Council explains.

This is also confirmed by the Center for Roma Initiatives (CRI) fieldwork, which has protected girls and women in the community for years from arranged marriages and violence. "When the victims decide to report the abuser, they often have to call several times for the police to come, but it also happens that the police ask the victim to come to the police station to report the violence," Fana Delija from CRI told CIN-CG.

Receiving justice is often unavailable to women from other communities who report violence in Montenegro. The case of Šejla Bakija, who died at 19, confirms this. Her former violent partner killed her after she reported him to the police several times.

Penalties for domestic violence are still mild in Montenegro. The most severe sentence in 2022 imposed in Podgorica for domestic violence was two years, the Basic Court in Podgorica told CIN-CG. In 2022, 96 criminal cases for domestic violence were established in that court, of which 90 issues were resolved. Of these, 43 were prison sentences, but as many as 33 convictions were only conditional. The mildest prison sentence was 30 days.

Other sentences in 2022 for domestic violence were five sentences of imprisonment to be served in residential premises, four sentences of community service, two decisions on psychiatric treatment and custody in a health institution, and one fine. In addition, there was one decision on suspending the criminal proceedings and one on rejecting the indictment, the Basic Court stated.

From January to August 2023, 1,657 calls were made to the national SOS line for victims of violence in Montenegro, from 298 persons confirming that domestic violence is a behavioral repetitive pattern. "It is impossible to provide statistical data on the number of Roma and Egyptian women who called the SOS line," Medojević said.

Difficult but possible to get out

Roma and Egyptian women come to Woman's Safe House mostly on their initiative, Jelovac explains, which means that they are, to a certain extent, informed about the possibility of accommodation there. "They often ask the police to place them with us." Although it seems that access to information about WSH is difficult for them, they come on the recommendation of other women from their community in Podgorica", Jelovac says.

Unlike women from the majority population, Roma and Egyptian women are usually not interested in psychological and legal help but only accommodation. "No one in Montenegro provides psychological help in the Romani language, which presents an issue," Jelovac explains.

RE women often feel unsafe because of the way the community functions.

"They live in large families in the same neighborhood, so they are usually afraid that word will quickly spread about where they are hiding," Jelovac says.

During the half year that Roma and Egyptian women usually stay in WSH, this institution helps them become independent, which is often very complicated.

"It starts with collecting the papers of the women and children. We try to help with citizenship if they do not have it, renew their passports, or get documents from neighboring countries. We also explore services that can be provided through the Center for Social Work, try to enroll the children in kindergarten or school, and provide employment for the victims", Jelovac explains. "We cooperate with a cleaning agency, so we try to hire them there, or we advise the victims to look for jobs in markets or other places, mostly as cleaning ladies."

In addition to the service of a licensed shelter, Medojević emphasizes that in Nikšić, they also provide professional help from psychologists.

The above is encouraging, but the problem is the data that two-thirds of women from the Roma and Egyptian communities return to the abuser, which is significantly more compared to the majority population, where one in three women return, Medojević explains.

Younger generations are more informed about violence

Pepić from the Roma Council emphasizes the importance of education and financial independence of women of the Roma and Egyptian population.

"We work on motivating girls and women to get an education and a job because that's the only way to get out of poverty and fight for the rights, but also fulfill the obligations," Pepić says.

However, the situation is somewhat better for young Roma and Egyptian women. Recently, awareness of the importance of reporting violence has increased among new generations, and the level of information about rights is higher, Pepić states.

"However, among the elderly, a few women still decide to report abuse," she says.

"Better information about the basic rights of this population requires long-term efforts and cooperation with the community. It is important to ensure that the information is adapted to the needs and cultural contexts of Roma and Egyptians", Medojević says. The language barrier is one of the most significant issues, so translators and mediators who can help translate into the native languages of Roma and Egyptians are crucial.

The NGO Center for Roma Initiatives (CRI) says that Roma and Egyptian women are educated on reporting violence through its mediators.

"In recent years, Roma and Egyptian women most often report violence after talking to mediators hired by CRINK in several cities," Fana Delija says.

Enisa's life story, from the beginning of the article, confirms that cycles of violence are repeated. Not only did she fail to provide herself with a peaceful life, but her daughter is also now a victim of violence, for which no one has yet been punished.