{"id":1821,"date":"2014-05-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/30-05-2014-bild-newspaper-portrays-rroma-as-traffickers\/"},"modified":"2022-07-24T15:13:39","modified_gmt":"2022-07-24T14:13:39","slug":"30-05-2014-bild-newspaper-portrays-rroma-as-traffickers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/30-05-2014-bild-newspaper-portrays-rroma-as-traffickers\/","title":{"rendered":"30.05.2014 Bild newspaper portrays Rroma as traffickers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Engelberg (2014) \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treported on a case of forced marriage between a German and a Belgian Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfamily. A fifty-year-old, German Rromni \u2013 Esma J. \u2013 is said to have looked for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta bride for her twenty-five year old son in Belgium. Thereupon, according to Engelberg, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ta seventeen year old, Belgian Rromni was married to the son of the mother. For \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe bride, the family is said to have had paid 16,000 Euros as a bride price. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAfter the wedding, the young Rromni, which according to her testimony did not \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tagree with the marriage, was forced to \u00a0\u00a0have sex with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe groom several times so as to produce offspring. After about seven months, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe bride was able to free herself from her husband\u2019s family and she phoned her \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsister. The groom\u2019s mother was accused of sexual abuse, as she arranged the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmarriage and is said to have urged the daughter-in-law to have sexual \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tintercourse with her son. For lack of evidence, she was discharged. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpresentation of Engelberg leaves many ambiguities open and gives space for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tquestionable cultural explanations. For example, Engelberg claims a clear link \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbetween forced marriages and the culture of the Rroma at the beginning of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tarticle, which does not correspond to reality: \u201cEsma J. (50) hides behind her red criminal record an does not want to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbe recognized. The charge against her is severe and enables a deep look into \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe culture of the Roma. Esma J. is accused of sexual abuse.\u201d<\/em> If it is in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfact a forced marriage in the sense of modern human trafficking, this should \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnot be trivialized. However, given the unclear background of the events, one \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshould be careful with hasty accusations. In any case, the association of Rroma \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand forced marriages has to be put into perspective. Although arranged \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmarriages do indeed exist among the Rroma, these should be by no means be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tequated with forced marriages nor are they the norm.<\/p>\n