MINELRES: AdvocacyNet: Roma Women Challenge European Governments Over Health

Sat Sep 13 10:55:41 2003

Original sender: Teresa Crawford <[email protected]>

**********
AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin - Number 11, September 11, 2003
**********

NEWS FROM THE ADVOCACY PROJECT

ROMA WOMEN CHALLENGE EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS OVER HEALTH CRISIS, CALL FOR
SPECIAL CONFERENCE ON STERILIZATION

Strasbourg, September 11, 2003: Soraya Post, the President of the
International Roma Women's Network, today warned European governments
that Roma women across the continent are in the grip of a 'terrible
health crisis,' and that governments must enforce their own laws if
there is to be any change.

Mrs. Post was addressing the opening session of a 2-day conference on
Roma women's health at the Council of Europe, which has been called to
review a report drawn from research in 15 countries.

She said that the report, 'Breaking the Barriers,' had confirmed what
Roma women had known for years: 'Roma women can expect to die almost
twenty years earlier than non-Roma women, and sick Roma are turned
away from clinics and hospitals. From East to West, the story is the
same. Our people are denied access to health care.'

In her statement, Mrs. Post also expressed shock that Roma women are
still subject to forcible sterilization in Europe, and called for a
special meeting on sterilization and reproductive rights.

Mrs. Post's principal message was that Roma women will only see their
lives improve when they take matters into their own hands, and when
European governments live up to their legal responsibilities.

'You have drafted laws against discrimination, laws that protect
minorities and laws that respect our cultural identity,' she said, in
a direct appeal to governments. 'Yet these laws are often not
enforced. They do nothing for millions of Roma women. Many governments
do not even collect (health) information on the basis of ethnicity and
gender.'

Mrs. Post appeared on the panel, and later at a press conference, with
the Deputy Secretary-General of the Council of Europe and Simone Veil,
a prominent figure in the European women's movement who has twice
served as France's Minister of Health. Mrs. Veil survived the death
camps of World War II and she recalled seeing entire gypsy families
before they were taken off to the gas chambers.

Mrs. Post's appearance at the meeting, alongside such company,
reflects growing interest in the IRWN, which was established on March
8 by Roma women activists from 18 European countries with help from
the Advocacy Project.

It also begins to address one of the themes of the conference - that
Roma women are their own best advocates. As Mrs. Post put it: 'We have
a lot to offer. We know our own problems and our communities better
than anyone. A whole new generation of young Roma women give us energy
and hope for the future.'

The IRWN is the first international network that brings together women
from East and West Europe. Mrs. Post told the meeting today that the
IRWN's goals are to allow Roma women to speak with one voice at the
international level, and to intervene when a member faces a crisis.
But she also made it clear that the IRWN has no wish to compete with
other networks, and wholeheartedly supports 'any initiative aimed at
bettering the lives of Roma women.' She singled out the Open Society
Institute, for working 'tirelessly to empower our people.'

Mrs. Post herself is a prominent leader of the Sinti community in
Sweden, as well as a businesswoman and mother of four children. In an
emotional moment, she told the meeting that her own mother had been
forcibly sterilized in 1959. While forcible sterilization has long
ceased in Sweden, she said, the practice lives on elsewhere in Europe.
The Center for Reproductive Rights caused a stir earlier this year
when it documented 110 cases of forcible sterilization in the Republic
of Slovakia.

Sterilization is an extreme example of the abuse that lies at the
heart of the Roma health crisis, yet it has been treated with extreme
caution by intergovernmental bodies like the Council of Europe. As a
result, a growing number of Roma advocates are calling for a special
conference that would focus on sterilization and seek compensation for
victims.

This has been endorsed by the IRWN, which issued an open letter after
the disclosures about Slovakia earlier in the year.

* For the text of Soraya Post's address to the Strasbourg conference
visit: http://tinyurl.com/n2y9

* For the IRWN Charter visit:
http://www.advocacynet.org/resource_view/link_366.html

* For a report on the campaign by young Roma women in Macedonia
against demeaning sexual practices visit:
http://www.advocacynet.org/cpage_view/rip_rip3_11_18.html

* Results from the Macedonia campaign:
http://www.romawomen.org/youngleaders/

* For the report on sterilization in Slovakia by the Center for
Reproductive Rights, visit: http://www.crlp.org/pub_bo_slovakia.html

* For Council of Europe coverage of the Strasbourg meeting visit:
http://tinyurl.com/n0on

*

The Advocacy Project is based in Washington D.C. 
Phone: +1 202 332 3900; 
fax: +1 202 332 4600. 
Visit the AP web site for information about current projects: 
www.advocacynet.org. 
For more information please e- mail 
[email protected]

 _______________________________________________
Advocacynet mailing list
[email protected]
http://advocacylists.org/mailman/listinfo/advocacynet_advocacylists.org