[women-rights] Actions to challenge women's rights abuses in the Czech Republic

US Government, United Nations to Hear Testimony

Budapest, Brno, New York, Ostrava, Washington DC August 15, 2006. Three
important human rights events will take place this week on the issue of
coercive sterilization of Romani women:

* Today, expert testimony on problem of coercive sterilization of Romani
women in the Czech Republic will be heard by the US Helsinki Commission,
the US government's premiere human rights watchdog agency.

* During review of the Czech Republic's compliance with international
human rights law, human rights experts and victims of extreme abuses, will
testify before the United Nations women's rights committee (CEDAW) on 17
August.

* Also 17 August a public event will be held in Ostrava, Czech Republic,
to protest the continuing failure by Czech authorities to provide due
legal remedy to victims of coercive sterilization.

These events aim to draw attention to the continuing failure by Czech
policy- and lawmakers to ensure that women in the Czech Republic are
protected from extreme harms such as violence at the hands of family
members and coercive sterilization.

In the run-up to these events, NGO partners have provided detailed
documentation to the UN CEDAW Committee in the form of an NGO Shadow
Report by the League of Human Rights, European Roma Rights Centre, and
Gender Studies. The report addresses a number of categories of serious
human rights abuses of women, including extreme forms of abuse such as
domestic violence and coercive sterilization, as well as very problematic
law, policy, and practice in a number of areas of relevance to the UN
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women. The NGO Shadow Report is available at:

* http://www.errc.org/cikk.php?cikk=2136

The Shadow Report comes to the conclusion that "legal protection against
discrimination remains insufficient in the Czech Republic" and notes that
women in the Czech Republic remain vulnerable to extreme forms of human
rights abuse. The relevant state bodies have failed to adequately address
the issue of coercive sterilization by introducing a compensation
mechanism for the victims. As a result, nearly all of the hundreds of
victims of this practice have to date been denied due remedy.

Testifying at the CEDAW Committee session will be:
* Gwendolyn Albert, Director of the League of Human Rights and
representing at the CEDAW session the League of Human Rights and the
European Roma Rights Centre;
* Elena Gorolova of the victim initiative "Women Harmed by Coercive
Sterilization" and herself a victim of these practices;
* Alena Kralikova of the Prague-based NGO Gender Studies.

Victims of coercive sterilizations have also organised a peaceful meeting
to raise awareness about the issue in front of the Fifejdy hospital in the
city of Ostrava on August 17, the same day the NGO Shadow Report will be
presented to the United Nations.

Other issues detailed in the NGO shadow report include:
* The failure to date by Czech Parliament to adopt a comprehensive
anti-discrimination law, to give domestic law effect to the rights
guaranteed in the CEDAW Convention.
* The need to improve the justice system's response to domestic
violence.

Contact Information
For Romani womens rights issues in the Czech Republic:
* Gwendolyn Albert, Director, League of Human Rights
Tel in US: + 1 860 538 8137
Tel in Europe: + 420 777 621 227
* Ostalinda Maya Ovalle, Women's Rights Officer, European Roma Rights
Centre,
Tels: +36 1 41 32 200, + 36 70 60 258 31
* Michaela Kopalova, League/ERRC lawyer representing sterilization
victims
Tel: +420 545 210 446
*Madla Cechova, League domestic violence coordinator
Tel: + 420 545 245 996
For the meeting in Ostrava:
*Life Together, Lucie DiAndrea
Tel.: + 420 596 130 716, + 420 775 761 191