Roma women are among the most threatened groups and individuals in the European Union - and accession and candidate countries, according to the European Parliament. In an own-initiative report adopted today with 412 votes for 48 against and 21 abstentions, MEPs call for measures to combat the extreme levels of multiple discrimination faced by these women on the grounds of both ethnicity and gender.
The report, drafted by Lívia Járóka (EPP-ED, HU), urges EU public authorities to "promptly investigate extreme human rights abuses against Roma women, to swiftly punish perpetrators, and to provide adequate compensation to victims". The Parliament calls on Member States to, to prevent and outlaw coercive sterilisation, and provide redress for such abuse, and to promote family planning, alternative arrangements to early marriages, and sex education. It also calls for proactive measures to eliminate racially segregated maternity wards, to help victims of domestic violence and for particular vigilance regarding the trafficking of Roma women.
A number of other areas of concern are raised in the report. It urges Member States to ensure that all Roma women have access to health care, and not only, as often occurs, in the case of an extreme emergency or childbirth. Surveys show that the life expectancy of Roma women is, in some areas, shorter than that of others. Many Roma girls fail to complete primary education. Lívia Járóka says that since education "is one of the most important tools for escaping poverty, the dual discrimination faced by Roma women in the field of education means that they will have a particularly difficult time escaping poverty". The Parliament calls for measures at national level to ensure that women and girls have access on equal terms to quality education and for plans to end the separate, substandard education of Roma children. A further burning issue, calling for positive measures, is the very high unemployment rates among Roma women - in several places, many times higher than that of the rest of the adult female population. MEPs also urge the Member States to improve Roma housing by recognising in national law a right to adequate housing.
The situation of Roma women in candidate countries should, according to the Parliament, be a key criterion for evaluation states of readiness for accession to the EU. MEPs welcomes the proposal to establish an EU Institute for Gender Equality and urges the institute to focus intensively on the situation of women suffering multiple discrimination including Roma women and encourage the gathering and publication of data set out by sex and ethnicity, on the situation of the Roma people, so progress can be measured.
