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Updated: 12:27 PM EDT
Child Bride Bolts Wedding in Vain
12-Year-Old Marries Against Her Wishes; Turning a Blind Eye in Romania
By Dina Kyriakidou, Reuters
AP
Ana Maria Cioaba, 12, daughter of the Romanian king of the Gypsies, joins her 15-year-old groom.
SIBIU, Romania (Sept 29) - All 12-year-old Ana Maria wanted was to stay in school and have fun with her friends.
So when the Roma gypsy princess found herself being married off to a 15-year-old boy she didn't even like, she picked up the hem of her vast 4,000-euro wedding dress and fled the church as guests sang cheerful marriage songs around her.
The groom Birita Mihai looked stunned -- but his child bride's revolt at the weekend was shortlived. Her father, Romanian Roma king Florin Cioaba, had her brought back and she was promptly married against her will.
The bride's friends rallied for Ana Maria, chanting "Down with Birita." Her father was obviously embarrassed by her revolt but unmoved by their pleas or her tears.
Later that night, according to the king's own spokeswoman Dana Chendea, the groom's family proudly showed the wedding guests a bloodied bedsheet to prove the marriage had been consummated.
"She told me it was the worst thing that ever happened to her. She felt like a huge rock fell on her," Chendea told Reuters.
For girls in Romania the legal age of sexual consent is 15, and for marriage 16. "Legally it was rape," a friend of the bride's said.
BLIND EYE
Among Romania's Roma, estimated to number between half a million and three million, child marriages are common and authorities have traditionally turned a blind eye.
"She will leave school and concentrate on her job as a wife."
-Dana Chendea, spokeswoman for Roma king Florin Cioaba
Police directed traffic outside Ana Maria's wedding and took no action to prevent it. The Romanian government would not comment on the incident.
But as the ex-communist country prepares to join the European Union as early as 2007, things may have to change.
"I would expect the senior social workers and the police to move in immediately and to remove her from harm," European MP Baroness Emma Nicholson, an activist on behalf of Romanian children, told Reuters.
"Romania, as a candidate country, is obliged to act on this immediately," the British politician said from London.
Cioaba, whose authority is being challenged by a rival king, invited hundreds of guests to a three-day wedding party for which 12 pigs were slaughtered and 4,000 bottles of wine served.
The king told reporters: "Today is a really happy day for the royal house, one of the happiest of my life... It's better for the children to marry young."
Asked if he loved Ana Maria, her 15-year-old husband replied: "I guess I do."
END TO CHILDHOOD
Ana Maria moved to the groom's house soon after the wedding in the medieval Transylvanian city of Sibiu.
"She will leave school and concentrate on her job as a wife," the king's spokeswoman Chendea told Reuters. "She will help her mother-in-law cook and clean and raise her children. It doesn't matter what she wants."
Roma minority officials defended the child marriage.
"The princess's marriage was not set up by force. She is as precious to the king as his own eyes. He wouldn't have done something against her will," said Vasile Ionescu, of the Roma Centre for public policies.
"We must keep our traditions alive in order to keep intact our identity and to survive. It's immoral and dangerous to forbid a custom and no one has the right to do that."
Ionescu said he was confident the EU would protect Roma culture and suggested Romanian legislation be amended to allow Roma children to marry according to tradition.
"Implementation of human rights for everyone is essential for full entry into the European Union," Nicholson said. "Sadly, Romania still has a number of grave weaknesses which will hinder her progress unless urgently addressed."
09/29/03 11:58 ET
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
Updated: 12:27 PM EDT
Child Bride Bolts Wedding in Vain
12-Year-Old Marries Against Her Wishes; Turning a Blind Eye in Romania
By Dina Kyriakidou, Reuters
AP
Ana Maria Cioaba, 12, daughter of the Romanian king of the Gypsies, joins her 15-year-old groom.
SIBIU, Romania (Sept 29) - All 12-year-old Ana Maria wanted was to stay in school and have fun with her friends.
So when the Roma gypsy princess found herself being married off to a 15-year-old boy she didn't even like, she picked up the hem of her vast 4,000-euro wedding dress and fled the church as guests sang cheerful marriage songs around her.
The groom Birita Mihai looked stunned -- but his child bride's revolt at the weekend was shortlived. Her father, Romanian Roma king Florin Cioaba, had her brought back and she was promptly married against her will.
The bride's friends rallied for Ana Maria, chanting "Down with Birita." Her father was obviously embarrassed by her revolt but unmoved by their pleas or her tears.
Later that night, according to the king's own spokeswoman Dana Chendea, the groom's family proudly showed the wedding guests a bloodied bedsheet to prove the marriage had been consummated.
"She told me it was the worst thing that ever happened to her. She felt like a huge rock fell on her," Chendea told Reuters.
For girls in Romania the legal age of sexual consent is 15, and for marriage 16. "Legally it was rape," a friend of the bride's said.
BLIND EYE
Among Romania's Roma, estimated to number between half a million and three million, child marriages are common and authorities have traditionally turned a blind eye.
"She will leave school and concentrate on her job as a wife."
-Dana Chendea, spokeswoman for Roma king Florin Cioaba
Police directed traffic outside Ana Maria's wedding and took no action to prevent it. The Romanian government would not comment on the incident.
But as the ex-communist country prepares to join the European Union as early as 2007, things may have to change.
"I would expect the senior social workers and the police to move in immediately and to remove her from harm," European MP Baroness Emma Nicholson, an activist on behalf of Romanian children, told Reuters.
"Romania, as a candidate country, is obliged to act on this immediately," the British politician said from London.
Cioaba, whose authority is being challenged by a rival king, invited hundreds of guests to a three-day wedding party for which 12 pigs were slaughtered and 4,000 bottles of wine served.
The king told reporters: "Today is a really happy day for the royal house, one of the happiest of my life... It's better for the children to marry young."
Asked if he loved Ana Maria, her 15-year-old husband replied: "I guess I do."
END TO CHILDHOOD
Ana Maria moved to the groom's house soon after the wedding in the medieval Transylvanian city of Sibiu.
"She will leave school and concentrate on her job as a wife," the king's spokeswoman Chendea told Reuters. "She will help her mother-in-law cook and clean and raise her children. It doesn't matter what she wants."
Roma minority officials defended the child marriage.
"The princess's marriage was not set up by force. She is as precious to the king as his own eyes. He wouldn't have done something against her will," said Vasile Ionescu, of the Roma Centre for public policies.
"We must keep our traditions alive in order to keep intact our identity and to survive. It's immoral and dangerous to forbid a custom and no one has the right to do that."
Ionescu said he was confident the EU would protect Roma culture and suggested Romanian legislation be amended to allow Roma children to marry according to tradition.
"Implementation of human rights for everyone is essential for full entry into the European Union," Nicholson said. "Sadly, Romania still has a number of grave weaknesses which will hinder her progress unless urgently addressed."
09/29/03 11:58 ET
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
