The Question of Forced Marriage in the Traveller Community.

From the Gypsy Message Board

Many of us were shocked to say the least by last weeks press items concetrating on comments made by Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the North-West which lead to headlines including:

”We tackled grooming gangs. Now we have to confront forced marriage among Travellers”

“There are some communities where we have feared to tread, and by ‘we’ I mean every agency. I am hopeful that no longer exists. The last bastion for me is the Traveller community.

‘ Travellers are “the last bastion” of sexual taboos in Britain’

I WILL STOP THE GYPSY WEDDINGS SAYS ASIAN SEX GANG LAWYER… “I have become aware of massive issues of forced marriage in the traveller community. It is widespread.”

Many of us felt the shock wave go through the community. We wondered where Mr Afzal got his information from. It certainly wasn’t something that is part of British Romany Culture. We wrote to him and told him he must be mistaken, we have never heard of forced marriage as had been reported.

He replied that ”Regrettably, there is no community that doesn’t have incidents of forced marriage …… ”Interestingly, when we started raising awareness of forced marriage in other communities, the first reaction was denial…… Sadly no community is an entirely safe place for women and girls. As a Government Minister said “multi-cultural sensitivity is no excuse for moral blindness…. We owe it to all victims in which ever community to provide protection.”

As we at GMB did not agree with his sentiment about us being in denial about forced marriage , our team spent a few days talking to people in particular elderly members of the Romany community to see if it was something they had heard of historically, going over records/ articles and other sources on marriage in the Traveller communities both historically and of these times to try and make sense of his statements.We intend to show that forced marriage is NOT embedded in Traveller history in this country and that any such cases that Mr Azfal might have got whisper of must be isolated and definitely are not widespread as has been published in the press and therefore his sweeping dangerous dialogue that can and will cause much harm to the reputation of all Travellers in the UK ,and add to the stereotypical misconceptions held by mainstream society, IS UNACCEPTABLE. We also have to question why he would make such a sweeping statement.

The Crown Prosecution Service brings up forced marriage under the heading of ‘Honour Based Violence and Forced Marriage’ It says ””Honour based violence” is a crime or incident, which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family and/or community’.- This definition is supported by further explanatory text:- “Honour Based Violence” is a fundamental abuse of Human Rights.- There is no honour in the commission of murder, rape, kidnap and the many other acts, behaviour and conduct which make up “violence in the name of so-called honour”. They explain ”Examples may include murder, un-explained death (suicide), fear of or actual forced marriage, controlling sexual activity, domestic abuse (including psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional abuse), child abuse, rape, kidnapping, false imprisonment, threats to kill, assault, harassment, forced abortion’….

For a starting point we only have to look around us. In today's world information is just a finger push away with a computer. As Mr Afzal did not entertain our own words to him, we will look at the words of others.

The word from the elders in the Romany community is that it does not happen and they have never heard of it. In the old days you either met at fairs or when you worked the fields etc.

Early works by Gypsy Parsons, Romany Rye, The Gypsies Advocate, The Gypsy Lore Society, none show any evidence to suggest a history of forced marriage in the Traveller community.

We have many history societies who have delved into past records e.g Romany Roads, they find press cuttings and records and no mention of forced marriage has come up.

We have Travellers Times and an Irish equivalent – no breaking headlines of forced marriage.

We have various established groups/societies and individuals that have lived or worked this field for years, but no big mention about forced marriages.

Today we have a whole host of modern Gypsy books written in-depth about social culture and growing up, developing in more modern times, nothing about forced marriage.

We nowadays have old news or documentaries re-run on television or on the net, we have lots of private documentaries aired by community members or commercial companies, the television or radio has regular items that involved aspects about Gypsies – no mention there either.

The press constantly disgorge any unsavoury item as often as they can, linked by any means to Gypsies – - yet until recently, no mention there either.

What is said about Gypsy Roma & Traveller marriages?

The Patrin Web says of Marriage in the Roma community ‘The first step in contemplating marriage is the selection of the bride. In many parts of the world, this is done just as it would be done in non-Roma society. The boy does the courting, and when the young couple agree to marry they become engaged and exchange modest gifts. Parents are consulted, but the decision is made by the young people.” No mention of forced marriage.

Dr Christopher Griffin, a lecturer in Sociology and Anthroplogy, was a warden on Londond Westway Gypsy & Traveller site from 1984 -1987.
He wrote ‘Free decisions to marry cause parent misery if their sons or daughters choice is not to their liking, whether the choice involves a Traveller or otherwise. He experience 15 Traveller marriages during that time. ”How many of the fifteen marriages from the Westaway between 1984 – 1987 were ‘arranged’ is not known. But one between and 18 year old boy and a sixteen year old girl at St. Francis of Assisi’s was definitely arranged between the families. Arranged families were said to be common, some of them fixed in childhood, which led some people to say ‘We’re like the Paki’s’. For this reason it is useful to distinguish between ‘matches’ made through independent brokers from ‘arrangements’ made by families themselves. It should not be thought that Traveller arrangements or matches preclude the option of refusal but, according to Barnes 1975, a girl is advised not to refuse to often if she is to avoid being thought of as ‘dirty’. however, for many parents the best marriages are those freely entered into or chosen -even if it is after elopement.
Elopement
Known also as ‘marriage by capture’ to anthropologists, elopement gets round family objections, especially on the girls side. The wedding follows the recapture, the boys punishment by her close male relatives, and an apology from his family to hers.I counted three such cases under the Westway. In one the couple knew each other for four months, in another the pair knew each other for less, and in the third had just fled Ireland. And, except in the first case, marriage followed within weeks of recapture.’ – no mention of forced marriage.

S.B Melch 1975 on arranged marriages
The main purpose behind arranged marriages amongst Travellers today is not to safeguard male interests so much as to safeguard the girl’s by securing a man who wont mistreat her. Such men are most likely to be found amongst ‘friends’ in the kindred. Men who, with their family, are known and vouched for and are not ‘strangers’ who’s families turn out to be ‘rough’ Brody (1973) found similar reasons for using matchmakers among country people.- no mention of forced marriage.

We have to look at why such vile statements are made in respect of the Traveller Communities.

It has been known and well publicised that Gypsies suffer racism far worse than any other ethnic minority group.

Trevor Phillips of the Commission for Racial Equality explains, “The situation for Gypsies and Travellers is incomparably worse than it is for any other ethnic group…and we let people get away with it.” (2004)

Travellers’ Times, (2003), pointed out that without facts, people rely entirely on stereotypes. This point is reflected also in police trainers’ comments.

The media try and use the word Gypsy or Traveller in the negative in any and every way possible and despite many years of work by Roma, Gypsy & Traveller organisations who have spent years getting to the truth of matters and dispelling myths, the press still get away with it. Only last week we complained to the press complaints commission about the headline ‘Big fat Gypsy Wife Killer’ which adorned the front page of the Scottish Sun and wasn’t even about a Gypsy.

Things have never changed for the Traveller community, they are still as misunderstood as they ever were.

Sínéad ní Shuínéar Researcher and Translator, Dublin ”’ The Gypsy is the ‘Witch’ in European society today.
””Gaujos not only (consciously, deliberately) scapegoat the Gypsy, they also (subconsciously) project onto him, thus distancing themselves from things they hate about themselves. Anti Gypsyism is a crusade – and is seen as such by those who are active in it. To accept the Gypsy would be to accept everything that decent people reject.
Gaujos need a screen onto which they project their own negativity; if they were to give up that screen; they would have no choice but to give up this evil. That is why Gaujos everywhere manipulate Gypsies into conformity with Gaujos expectations. Individual Travellers in small numbers may readily be accepted into the fold since their ‘conversion’ is living proof of the correctness of our ‘model’ and at the same time seems to show that our objections to other members of the group are not racist in nature. But Gypsies as a group cannot be permitted into mainstream, despite universal Gaujos demands that they do so.

Gaujos need a screen onto which they project their own negativity; if they were to give up that screen; they would have no choice but to give up this evil. That is why Gaujos everywhere manipulate Gypsies into conformity with Gaujos expectations. Individual Travellers in small numbers may readily be accepted into the fold since their ‘conversion’ is living proof of the correctness of our ‘model’ and at the same time seems to show that our objections to other members of the group are not racist in nature. But Gypsies as a group cannot be permitted into mainstream, despite universal Gaujos demands that they do so.””

To conclude, We feel that Mr Azfal has based his knowledge on what he perceives to be a huge problem in the Traveller community without looking at the full facts or history of Travellers. Most times in the UK if you talk about Travellers it is Romany Gypsies or Irish Travellers. We refute his claims of widespread forced marriage. We note that the funding to tackle this problem has been made available by the government Domestic Programme Fund – Tackling forced marriage in the Traveller communities, developing options for work to challenge behaviour and support victims/potential victims. – We do not feel it is fair to use government funding in the name of Travellers as he obviously has not done his home work and by doing so he will unjustifiably stigmatise and alienate the Traveller community. We would suggest to Mr Azfal that such funding is used where it is needed.