WUNRN
European Roma
Rights Centre
The ERRC’s submission to the 47th CEDAW session on
coercive sterilisations is available in English and Czech. Submission on trafficking of human
beings is available in English only.
Czech Republic - Romani Victims of Coercive Sterilisation Still Denied Justice
Geneva/Budapest, 11 October 2010: Today the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) reminded the UN that the Czech Republic continues to deny compensation to Romani women who are victims of coercive sterilisation, and has failed to take adequate steps to prevent coercive sterilisations from occurring in the future. The ERRC submitted a report on coercive sterilisation to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women at the Committee’s 47th session in Geneva.
It was pointed
out by the Charter 77 civic initiative in one of their documents from 1978
that Romani women were routinely
sterilised without their consent as a matter of government policy in the former
Czechoslovakia in the 1970s. Although
the policy is no longer in place, Romani women continued to be sterilised
without their consent in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with cases as recent
as 2007. The first official recognition
of the State’s role in
the coercive sterilisation of Romani women occurred in December 2005 by the
Public Defender of Rights (Ombudsman).
In 2009, the Czech Prime Minister expressed regret for the practice.
However the Czech Government has taken no significant steps to provide
compensation to those affected.
In its written statement to the
Committee, the ERRC raises concern about coercive sterilisation cases from
between 1989 and 2007 which it has documented.
Most victims of this practice lack an effective remedy, as they
discovered that they have been sterilised years after the fact and sought legal
assistance at a time when any claim against the perpetrators or the State has
become time barred. Moreover, the
law on informed consent has not been changed to ensure that such situations do
not occur in the future.
Robert Kushen,
ERRC Executive Director, stated: “The Czech Government needs to overcome the
existing barriers to accessing justice experienced by sterilised Romani women
and establish a mechanism which would ensure that all women affected by this
abhorrent practice are compensated. The Czech Government has the opportunity to
provide much needed leadership to other countries where Romani women have been
coercively sterilised ”
For more
information, contact:
Sinan Gokcen
ERRC Media and
Communications Officer
+36.30.500.1324
The ERRC’s submission to the 47th
CEDAW session on coercive sterilisations is available in English and Czech. Submission on trafficking of human
beings is available in English only.