Dragana* was 16 years old and stateless. Until last year she lived in a Roma settlement in the former Yugoslavia with an abusive man who referred to himself as her uncle. She has no memory of her parents. Last year Dragana's uncle began to talk about arranging a marriage for Dragana with an older man he knew. She did not want to get married, but given her lack of legal documentation, she was not in school and had little to look forward to in her life. She wondered if this older man might provide for her better than her uncle. Later she realized that this marriage was a sham and she was being sold into prostitution. She is now in another country where she still can not gain access to the legal support that would enable her to gain documentation and go home. Now 17, Dragana feels trapped, exploited and alone.
Little is known about the extent of the problems faced by the world’s 12 million stateless persons [1], individuals who do not have a legal tie to any country and often live on the edge of society. What we do know is that abuse and violence take place irrespective of gender, age, background, or legal status. Due to their lack of an identity or any documentation proving nationality or citizenship, stateless persons often cannot access the societal mechanisms that would permit them to pursue protection and justice.
In Burma, the problem of widows and divorced women in the stateless Rohingya [2] community has been identified in the Arakan Project’s submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. They are “looked down on, exposed to sexual violence and abandoned with little community support. Arranged marriages often operate successfully among Rohingyas, but forced marriages are not uncommon ... Rohingya women have no control over their reproductive health, including in accessing birth control and in terminating a pregnancy.”
Among the Rohingya, female headed-households are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuses, including rape. The Arakan Project reports that “women and teenaged girls are also at risk when left alone at home while their husbands are forced to work as sentries or are absent. Patrols routinely enter homes at night searching for unlawfully married couples or unregistered guests. Girls have also been raped while collecting firewood.”
Within the Gulf Region, there is even less information available on the subject of gender based violence in the general population or for stateless groups like Kuwait’s Bidoon (Arabic term for people without citizenship). Considered a ‘shame’, the problem is hidden, with the exception of violence against domestic servants which is known to be rampant. Gender based violence is not considered as crime and is not normally reported by women – at any level or section of Kuwait society – and even if it were to begin to be reported it would not be considered a “crime” in that same way as crimes against men. One source suggests, “Rape is sometimes reported and occasionally perpetrators are punished, but it is very likely just the tip of the iceberg.
Steps can be taken to crack the foundation of the problem of gender based violence in stateless groups. Efforts should be made to uphold every person’s right to a nationality and attention should be paid to ensuring ‘hidden populations’ are included in programs designed to prevent and reduce violence, especially ones with focus on refugee or internally displaced persons.
* name has been changed
TAKE ACTION [3]: Urge Congress to re-introduce the International Violence Against Women Act.
For the next few weeks, Refugees International will be posting about the rights of women around the globe as part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence [4].