WUNRN
Multiple Photos of Coercively
Sterilized
Czech Women in Website Link Article
European Roma Rights Centre - ERRC
CHALLENGING COERCIVE STERILISATIONS
OF
ROMANI WOMEN IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
From
the 1970s until 1990, the Czechoslovak government sterilised Romani women
programmatically, as part of policies aimed at reducing the "high,
unhealthy" birth rate of Romani women. This policy was decried by the
Czechoslovak dissident initiative Charter 77, and documented extensively in the
late 1980s by dissidents Zbynek Andrs and Ruben Pellar. Helsinki Watch (now
Human Rights Watch) addressed the issue in a comprehensive report published in
1992 on the situation of Roma in Czechoslovakia, concluding that the practice
had ended in mid-1990. A number of cases of coercive sterilisations taking
place in 1990 or before then in the Czech part of the former Czechoslovakia
have also been recently documented by the ERRC. Criminal complaints filed with
Czech and Slovak prosecutors on behalf of sterilised Romani women in each
republic were dismissed in 1992 and 1993. No Romani woman sterilised by Czechoslovak
authorities has ever received justice or even public recognition of the
injustices to which they were systematically subjected under Communism.
During 2003 and 2004, the ERRC and partner organisations in the Czech Republic
undertook a number of field missions to the Czech Republic to determine whether
practices of coercive sterilisation have continued after 1990, and if they were
ongoing to the present. The conclusions of this research indicate that there is
significant cause for concern that to the present day, Romani women in the
Czech Republic have been subjected to coercive sterilisations, and that Romani
women are at risk in the Czech Republic of being subjected to sterilisation
absent fully informed consent. During the course of research, researchers found
that Romani women have been coercively sterilised in recent years in the Czech
Republic.
Cases
documented include:
· Cases in which
consent has reportedly not been provided at all, in either oral or written
form, prior to the operation;
· Cases in which
consent was secured during delivery or shortly before delivery, during advanced
stages of labour, i.e. in circumstances in which the mother is in great pain
and/or under intense stress;
· Cases in which
consent appears to have been provided (i) on a mistaken understanding of
terminology used, (ii) after the provision of apparently manipulative
information and/or (iii) absent explanations of consequences and/or possible
side effects of sterilisation, or adequate information on alternative methods
of contraception;
· Cases in which
officials put pressure on Romani women to undergo sterilisation, including
through the use of financial incentives or threats to withhold social benefits;
· Cases in which
explicit racial motive appears to have played a role during doctor-patient
consultations.
In
early 2005, about 25 of Romani women coercively sterilised by Czech medical
officials established a victim advocacy group called the Group of Women Harmed
by Sterilisation to press authorities to press for justice. On the occasion of
the establishment of the group, spokesperson Helena Ferencikova said, "We
want public recognition by the Czech government of our suffering. We are owed
legal remedy because our fundamental rights have been systemically violated by
Czech doctors and other officials. We have decided that we will not be silent
anymore."
Following
their decision to come forward publicly, members of the Group of Women Harmed
by Sterilisation -- thus far an informal network of victims in the greater
Ostrava area -- were photographed by Andreea Anca-Strauss. The gallery of
portraits presented here are part of her work for the ERRC.
Seventy-six
victims of coercive sterilisation -- all but one of them women and the
overwhelming majority of them Romani -- have to date submitted complaints to
the Czech Public Defender of Rights ("the Ombudsman"). Following
discussions in late 2004, the Czech Ministry of Health established a panel to
review files of alleged victims and provide answers to questions submitted by
the Ombudsman. Although the panel has thus far met twice, it has not made
public its findings, and to date none of the victims have yet seen justice.
In
September and November 2004, the ERRC and local partners sent two letters to
the Czech Minister of Health, urging that independent experts in informed
consent issues be included in the Ministry panel. To date however, the Ministry
has not responded to either letter.
On 4
March 2005, the first in a series of civil complaints in the matter was filed
in an Ostrava court, on behalf of Helena Ferencikova, coercively sterilised by
doctors in an Ostrava hospital in 2001. Human Rights Advocate Michaela
Tomisova, Ms Ferencikova's legal representative said, "Following first
news of this action, we have been swamped with calls from other Romani women
from all over the Czech Republic. The lawsuit on behalf of Ms. Ferencikova is
only a first step. The Czech government needs to provide basic recognition that
this problem exists and that there are many victims awaiting redress. It must
make available easily accessible procedures with all due privacy guarantees
such that all victims can come forward with dignity. The Czech government also
needs to take the lead in providing a full and complete public account of the
dimensions of the problem."
On
these matters, the ERRC has worked closely with local partners Life Together,
League of Human Rights and IQ Roma Service. Life Together has taken the lead on
facilitating the establishment of the Group of Women Harmed by Sterilisation.
The ERRC has provided expertise and funding support to Attorney Tomisova, based
with local partner IQ Roma Service, as well as to Ms Anca-Strauss. The League of
Human Rights has also provided legal expertise and has designed local media
action. All partners have undertaken extensive field research throughout 2004
and 2005, following initial ERRC field research into the issue in 2003. Further
legal action will follow in the coming period.
Further information:
Michaela Tomisova (IQ Roma Service): ++ 420 73 795 13 23
Helena Ferencikova (via Kumar Vishwanathan, Life Together): ++ 420 77 77 60 191
Jiri Kopal (League of Human Rights): ++ 420 60 87 19 535
Claude Cahn (ERRC): ++ 36 20 98 36 445