ATHENS, Greece – Across Europe, Roma faced scrutiny amidst the finding of “Maria.” Some have compared notions of “baby snatching” to anti-Semitic stories from before World War II.

Across Europe, the Roma live nomadic lives with strong ties to their culture, which has made integration difficult and isolation easy. (Photo courtesy of the Independent)

During the week of 14 October 2013, authorities searching the Farsala Roma community for drugs and weapons found five-year-old “Maria.” The couple claiming to be her parents had none of her physical characteristics. DNA tests revealed that Maria is not either adult’s biological daughter.

The couple, Christos Salis and Eleftheria Dimopoulou, were charged with abducting Maria and falsifying documents. In speaking with police, the couple conveyed that a fair-skinned Bulgarian Roma woman gave them Maria because she could no longer care for her. However, police also report that both adults provided conflicting accounts of the child’s origin.

A fair-skinned Bulgarian woman has come forward as Maria’s biological mother to corroborate the couple’s story. A DNA test will be conducted.

“It is a racist presumption on behalf of the Greek authorities… to charge her family with abduction just because they are Roma and because it was proven that [she] is not their own natural child,” says Panayote Dimitras, spokesperson from the Greek Helsinki Monitor.

In Farsala, dozens who knew the family contended that the couple cared for Maria deeply and looked after her well. Currently, Maria—who speaks little Greek—is in a Greek charity hospital undergoing tests to determine her real age. Thousands of parents around the world have called and emailed authorities, hoping that Maria is their lost child.

While the global interest has centered on finding Maria’s biological parents, local interests center on the great divide between the Roma and other Greeks. Indeed, the European Court of Human Rights has found that Greece, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Hungary have segregated their Roma communities.

Originally of India, the Roma are considered a subgroup of the Romani people. For centuries, the Roma have lived nomadically across Europe. Integration becomes difficult due to the Roma’s strong attachment to their culture, language, and habits.

Some media outlets have shown footage of Maria dancing to music with the implication that her parents forced her to dance for money. Enraged by the suggestion, the Roma community explained that the footage was taken after a baptism and religious celebration.

Admitting to some settlements known to have illegal activities, many Roma protest that criminality is a very small portion of their community.

In this case, Salis and Dimopoulou are an illiterate couple who registered their family in several towns, often claiming fourteen children—ten of whom are unaccounted for. Police stated that the couple received approximately €2500 ($3420) per month in child welfare subsidies from three different cities. However, among all Greeks, it is not uncommon to see such papers falsified.

In Ireland, authorities began taking for DNA testing Roma children, all of whom were confirmed as the biological children of their alleged parents.

Three score and ten years ago, the world saw what racism does, and the world said, “Never again.” Europe must remember that never means never.

For further information, please see:

CNN International – Bulgarian Woman Claims She’s Maria’s Mom: ‘We Gifted Her’ to Roma Family – October 25, 2013

Independent – Old Attitudes Resurface in Greece: Inside the Roma Camp Where Maria the ‘Blonde Angel’ Lived – October 25, 2013

BBC News – ‘Parents’ of Greek Roma Girl Maria Give DNA to Police – October 24, 2013

Huffington Post UK – Do Roma ‘Gypsies’ Really Abduct Children? — October 24, 2013

Irish Times – Shatter Seeks Report as Roma Children Returned to Families – October 24, 2013

Syria Frees Detained Women after Hostage Deal

October 24, 2013

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria-Syrian authorities have released at least 10 women detainees, with other reports amounting to 16 detainees, in a hostage deal with kidnappers in northern Syria. The women were the first of 126 women expected to be freed in a three-way prisoner and hostage swap.

Freed hostages landed safely in Beirut (photo courtesy of Al Arabiya)

The release of the women was the main demand of kidnappers who released nine Lebanese men who were held hostage for 17 months. The nine hostages and two Turkish pilots were abducted in Lebanon and were freed last week under a deal negotiated by Qatar.

Syria has made no official comment about the release, nor has it acknowledged playing any role in the hostage exchange deal. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group, stated that Damascus had released dozens of prisoners last week, who also may have been part of the deal.

Turkey hosts many opposition groups and has generally kept its border open to rebels. The Turkish pilots were abducted by relatives of the Lebanese hostages to put pressure on Turkey since it is believed to hold sway with the opposition.

“They [the women] were released overnight. We do not know if more will be released today or later, or if that is it. We are waiting,” said a Syrian human rights activist.

“For their own safety, they will have to leave the country,” said activist Semar Nassar. “Among them was a cancer patient who had been imprisoned twice before and whose husband has been killed in Syria’s 31-month-old conflict,” continued Nassar.

Little information has been provided about the women who were released or when they were originally detained. It is believed that the women are those whose release Syrian rebels had originally demanded as the price for freeing the Lebanese hostages.

Other activists have reported that only 13 female prisoners were released in Damascus province, but it was uncertain whether their release was related to the exchange deal. There has been no official comment in Damascus on the women detainees.

For more information, please see the following:

Al Arabiya-Syria frees 14 women detainees after hostage deal-23 October 2013

Al Jazeera-Syria frees women detainees in hostage deal-23 October 2013

Global Post-Syria frees 14 women detainees after hostage deal-23 October 2013

Guardian-Syria frees 10 women in hostage deal-23 October 2013

Yemen: Father Burns 15-year-old Daughter to Death for Contacting Fiancé

October 23, 2013

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SANA’A, Yemen – A fifteen-year-old Yemeni girl was burned to death by her father after he caught her contacting her fiance before their wedding. Prosecutors intend to press charges against her thirty-five-year-old father, who was arrested in the remote village of Shabaa, in Taiz province.

Child brides are popular in Yemen and have attracted widespread criticism from international human rights groups. (Photo Courtesy of Corbis)

“The father committed this heinous crime on the pretext that his daughter had been keeping contacts with her fiance,” the police website said on Tuesday, giving no further details.

Local news websites have reported that the father had caught the pair talking on the phone.

In some parts of Yemen it is traditional tribal custom to prevent men and women from contacting each other before marriage. Tribal loyalties run deep in the impoverished Arabian peninsula nation and often take precedence over the writ of the central government.

Yemeni women are generally accorded a low status in the family and community. Women often find themselves subject to of various forms of violence, deprivation of education, early and forced marriages, sexual abuse, restrictions over freedom of movement, forced pregnancy, and female genital mutilation. Killings of daughters, wives or sisters to punish perceived breaches of family honor are not uncommon.

Last year, the UN Human Rights council raised concerns about so-called “honor killings” in the country. Perpetrators were not charged with murder, and faced only a six-month to one-year prison sentence, it found.

In 2010, the Yemen Social Affairs Ministry released a report that stated more than 25 percent of the country’s females marry before the age of fifteen. It is a traditional tribal belief that younger brides are more easily molded in desirable and obedient wives.

The country previously required individuals to be at least fifteen-years-old before they could be married, but in the 1990s the law was annulled. The current policy is that parents should decided when their daughters are to be married. This scenario allows impoverished families to marry away their daughters at young ages for compensation sometimes reaching into the hundreds of dollars.

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya – Yemeni 15-year-old girl burned to death for ‘meeting fiance’ – 23 October 2013

BBC – Yemeni ‘burns daughter to death for contacting fiance’ – 23 October 2013

Daily Mail – Yemeni father burns his daughter, 15, to death for keeping in touch with her fiance – 23 October 2013

Reuters – Yemeni burns daughter to death for contacting fiance: police – 23 October 2013

White House Assures German Chancellor the U.S. Not Spying on Her Phone

October 23, 2013

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany – The White House released a statement on Wednesday indicating that the United States has not been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel by tapping into her cell phone.

Merkel called Obama after receiving a tip, which Germany has not elaborated on. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

Merkel had called U.S. President Barack Obama after reportedly receiving information that the United States may have tapped in conversation on her mobile phone.

“The United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor,” White House Spokesman Jay Carney stated on Wednesday.

Merkel’s spokesman stated that the Chancellor “views such practices… as completely unacceptable”. Germany demanded “an immediate and comprehensive explanation” from the U.S. about what it stated “would be a serious breach of trust”.

Germany also issued a statement, stating, “Among close friends and partners, as the Federal Republic of Germany and the US have been for decades, there should be no such monitoring of the communications of a head of government.”

The United States has been receiving anger and skepticism from allies regarding spying allegations based on sources believed to originate from intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

During a visit in June, President Obama assured Chancellor Merkel that German citizens were not being spied upon. At the time, Merkel was criticized by political opponents for not being more skeptical.

The German government did not elaborate on how it received the tip about the alleged U.S. spying. However, German news magazine Der Spiegel, which has published stories based on material from Edward Snowden, claimed that the information had come from its investigations.

Carney told reporters that the U.S. was examining concerns over U.S. intelligence practices from several American allies, including Germany and France. Carney did not address whether Merkel’s phone had indeed been monitored in the past.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff recently cancelled a visit to the U.S. this month in protest at alleged electronic espionage by the NSA against her country, including of communications at her office. Rousseff rejected U.S. claims that the interception of information was aimed at protecting nations against terrorism, drugs trafficking and other organized crime, in a speech at the United Nations.

The Mexican government has called the alleged spying on the emails of its former and current presidents, Enrique Pena Nieto – the incumbent – and currently Felipe Calderon, as “unacceptable”.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Merkel Calls Obama About “U.S. Spying on Her Phone” – 23 October 2013

Deutsche Welle – Merkel Calls Obama for Answers Over Reports That the U.S. Spied on her Phone – 23 October 2013

Reuters – Germany Says U.S. May Have Monitored Merkel’s Phone – 23 October 2013

Washington Post – Merkel Calls Obama About Alleged U.S. Monitoring of Her Phone – 23 October 2013