[women-rights] Czech Republic: Report by Ombudsman on the coercive sterilisation of Romani women

Groundbreaking Document Recognises "Problem" and Calls for Far-Reaching
Changes to Law, Policy and Society

Brno, Prague, Budapest, Ostrava, 11 January 2006. Civil society
organisations today welcomed a report published by the Czech Public
Defender of Rights ("Ombudsman") on investigations into allegations of the
coercive sterilisation of Romani women in the Czech Republic.

The report is the result of more than a year of research by the Ombudsman
and his staff, on the basis of complaints brought by 87 women. It followed
discussions between the Ombudsman and the European Roma Rights Centre
(Budapest), the League of Human Rights (Prague/Brno), Life Together
(Ostrava) and the Group of Women Harmed by Sterilisation (Ostrava). The
report was finalised on 23 December 2005, and has been made public this
week.

The report concludes that "The Ombudsman is convinced that in the Czech
Republic, the problem of sexual sterilization -- carried out either with
unacceptable motivation or illegally -- exists, and that Czech society
stands before the task of coming to grips with this reality." Measures
undertaken by the Czech Ministry of Health are seen as to date grossly
inadequate.

Three areas of recommendations are brought by the Ombudsman: 1) Changes to
Czech domestic law to better anchor the principle of informed consent in
these areas; 2) Supplementary measures to ensure a change of culture with
regard to informed consent in the medical community, as well as among
users; 3) A simplified procedure for compensation to victims, where social
workers have been involved in implementing coercive sterilisation policy.

Pages 25-59 (i.e., approximately 1/3 of the report in total) concern
"Sterilization and the Romani Community" and reach the conclusion of
racial targeting. Case summaries included in the report highlight events
in which, for example, the medical files reveal that social workers and
doctors recommended caesarean section births in order to manufacture
"indicators" through which sterilisation would appear legitimate and
necessary.

The text of the report also includes detailed summaries of Czechoslovak
state policies toward Roma in the 1970s and 1980s, in which social workers
were enlisted in the task of controlling the Romani birth-rate -- regarded
as too high by policy-makers -- and creating a culture of invasive control
over Romani families which endures to today. The report also includes a
separate section on the history of eugenics in Czechoslovakia, which the
report's authors evidently regard as key for the policies and practices
detailed in the report.

The report is not yet available in English, but the original Czech version
can be downloaded at: {http://www.ochrance.cz/documents/doc1135861291.pdf
}

Further information is available at:
{http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2228 }


Contacts:
Michaela Tomisova (legal representative of the victims): ++ 420 73 795 13
23 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



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