I was forcibly married to a man I didn't want, much older than me. I was only 17 years old. I was beaten not only by my husband, but also by my brother-in-law and father-in-law. Later, my older son was also violent towards me, he says Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) Enisa (name changed for identity protection), Roma woman in her fifties.
She is thin, she trembles when she speaks. Her life is full of suffering. She lost two of her five children, and two were born with special needs. She continues to take care of them, while her third child, a son, makes her life even more difficult, with threats and brutal aggressive behavior.
Enisa managed to get away from her husband and his family. The Podgorica NGO Sigurna ženska kuća (SŽK) helped her in this.
"I stayed there for a year. I know that my husband was looking for me, he was trying to reach me. Fortunately, I was well protected," explains Enisa.
After her stay in SŽK, she moved from Podgorica to another, smaller municipality. With the help of humanitarian donations, a house was built for her, where she lives today with two children with developmental disabilities.
But now he welcomed a son, who obviously learned from his father, grandfather and uncle, so Enisa is still in a vicious cycle of violence.
"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 residents are Roma and Egyptian," Nada Jelovac, psychologist at the Safe Women's House (SŽK), tells CIN-CG.
Of the 38 persons who were accommodated in SŽK in 2023, 16 of them are Roma and Egyptian, says Jelovac.
And in the Shelter for victims of violence in Nikšić, which is under the auspices of the national SOS line for victims of violence, there is a large percentage of Roma women.
"During 2023, out of a total of 50 women and children, 22 people were from the Roma population," says Nataša Međedović, executive coordinator from the shelter in Nikšić.
"The largest number of cases of violence in the Roma community remain unreported and unexplained. Even after reporting, Roma women in most cases return to the abuser. Poverty is a major cause of this," Šejla Pepić, a representative of the Roma Council of Montenegro, who deals with the protection of women's rights within the community, told CIN-CG.
As one of the most vulnerable groups, women of the Roma community are at increased risk of domestic violence, explains Pepić.
Due to poverty, lack of information, lack of education and a pronounced patriarchal view of the world, 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 about 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. She was killed by her unmarried husband, Dalibor Nikolić, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina living in Bar. Zumreta suffered abuse for years. Although members of her wider community reported her partner to the police for violence against her, she denied everything out of fear. Zumreta grew up in an atmosphere of violence - and her father killed her mother when she was still a little girl.
Exposed to a high degree of violence
"Usually Roma women suffer long-term sexual, psychological and physical violence. They are exposed to much more intense abuse, and they have much less opportunity to leave a violent relationship," says psychologist Jelovac.
"Even parents who accept their daughter's return rarely take her children as well. According to the principles of patriarchy, which are still key in the community, children belong to men," explains Jelovac.
This patriarchal custom existed until almost the majority of the population in Montenegro, she reminds.
All victims of violence can reach the national SOS line at the number: 081 111 111, which does not record who is calling. Calls are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are free for all mobile and landline networks in Montenegro
The SOS Shelter for victims of violence in Nikšić says that Roma women who suffer violence often do not have the support of their primary family to leave the abuser.
"The data from 2023 show that all the women of the Roma and Egyptian communities, who were in the SOS shelter, were victims of intimate partner violence. Each of them was exposed to mental and physical violence - their movement, contacts, communication were restricted, and half of them 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 verbal support or temporary accommodation", stated Nataša Međedović.
In the Roma family, it is still generally considered that men and older members of the community should have control over 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, writes in the study "Family violence in the Roma and Egyptian community in Montenegro", from 2014.
Not much has changed since 2014.
"I'm not allowed to go out alone, I have to report every step to my husband, and when he's 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 her husband.
"I can't do anything there... I have to watch what I'm doing," he explains.
She lives in extreme poverty, begs, searches containers, so that she, her children, her husband, her mother-in-law can survive...
Limited access to justice
In addition to rarely making the decision to leave violence, Roma and Egyptian women have limited access to institutions that provide support, explains Međedović. That is why justice in the fight against violence is hard to come by.
"In a situation of high traumatization when it is necessary to report violence, Roma women and Egyptian women have to give a statement exclusively in the language of the majority community, which can be a problem, given that it is most often not their mother tongue," says Međedović.
For minor victims of child arranged marriages, which are often accompanied by violence, there is no long-term sustainable solution that should be provided by the state: accommodation, recovery and empowerment to get out of the violence and start a normal life, explains Međedović.
The Safe Women's House explains that their wards of Roma and Egyptian nationality often do not have appropriate documentation - some are stateless, but many of those who have citizenship also do not have personal documents. That is why the initiation of 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, explains Pepić from the Roma Council.
This is also confirmed by the field work of the organization Center for Roma Initiatives (CRINK), which for years has been involved in the protection of girls and women in the community from arranged marriages and violence.
"When the victims decide to report the abuser, they often have to call several times in order for the police to come to the scene, or it happens that the police ask the victim to come to the police station in order to report the violence," Fana Delija from CRINK told CIN-CG -a.
Satisfaction of justice is often unavailable to women from other communities who report violence in Montenegro. This was confirmed two years ago by the case of Šejla Bakija, who died at the age of 19. He was killed by his former, violent partner, after she reported him to the police several times.
Penalties for domestic violence are still mild in Montenegro. The harshest sentence in 2022 imposed in Podgorica for the crime of domestic violence was two years, the Podgorica Basic Court told CIN-CG. During 2022, 96 criminal cases for domestic violence were established in that court, of which 90 cases were resolved. Of these, 43 were prison sentences, but as many as 33 convictions were only conditional. The mildest prison sentence was 30 days, they said.
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 the suspension of the criminal proceedings and one decision on the rejection of the indictment, said the Basic Court.
That domestic violence is a recurring pattern of behavior is also confirmed by the fact that, from January to August 2023, 1.657 calls were made to the national SOS hotline for victims of violence in Montenegro, from a total of 298 people.
"It is not possible to provide statistical data on the number of Roma and Egyptian women who turn for help by phone," said Međedović.
The way out is difficult, but possible
Roma and Egyptian women come to SŽK mostly on their own initiative, Jelovac explains, which means that they are informed about the possibility of accommodation in SŽK to a certain extent.
"They often ask the police themselves to place them with us. Although it seems that access to information about SŽK is difficult for them, they come on the recommendation of other women from their community in Podgorica," says Jelovac.
The moment they enter the shelter, Roma and Egyptian women, unlike women from the majority population, are usually not interested in psychological and legal help, but only accommodation.
"The problem is that no one in Montenegro provides psychological help in the Romani language," explains Jelovac.
Because of the way the Roma community functions, women often feel unsafe.
"They live in large families, which all belong to the same neighborhood, so they are usually afraid that word will quickly spread about where they hid," says Jelovac.
During the half year that Roma and Egyptian women usually stay in SŽK, this institution helps them begin the process of becoming independent, which is often very complicated.
"It starts with sorting out the papers of the wife and children, we try to help with citizenship if they don't have it, renew their passports or get documents from neighboring countries. We look at what services can be provided through the Center for Social Work, we try to enroll the children in kindergarten or school, and after that we try to provide employment for the victims", explains Jelovac.
"We have cooperation with a cleaning agency, so we try to employ them there, or we advise the victims to look for work themselves in markets, or in other places, mostly as hygienists."
Međedović, from the shelter in Nikšić, emphasizes that all victims of violence can get the national SOS line at the number: 081 111 111, which does not record who is calling. Calls are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are free for all mobile and landline networks in Montenegro.
In addition to the service of a licensed shelter, Međedović emphasizes that in Nikšić they also provide professional help from psychologists.
The above is apparently encouraging, but the problem is the data that two-thirds of women from the Roma and Egyptian community return to the abuser, which is significantly more compared to the majority population, where one in three women return, explains Međedović.
Younger generations 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 get a job, because that's the only way to get out of poverty and fight for your rights, but also fulfill your obligations," says Pepić.
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 also higher, says Pepić.
"However, among the elderly, a very small number of women still decide to report abuse," the CIN-CG interlocutor points out.
"Better information about the basic rights of this population requires long-term efforts and cooperation with the community. It is important to ensure that information is adapted to the specific needs and cultural contexts of Roma and Egyptians," says Međedović.
The language barrier is one of the biggest problems, so translators and mediators who can help translate into the native languages of Roma and Egyptians are of crucial importance.
The NGO Center for Roma Initiatives (CRINK) says that through its mediators, it educates Roma and Egyptian women about reporting violence.
"In recent years, Roma and Egyptian women most often report violence after discussions with mediators hired by CRINK in several cities," says Fana Delija.
That cycles of violence are repeated is confirmed by the case of Enisa, from the beginning of the text. Not only has she failed to provide herself with a peaceful life, but her daughter is now a victim of violence that no one is punishing yet.
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