forced sterilization

Elena Gorolová: Some of the forced sterilization victims have died, but we are still fighting for compensation

17.7.2019 18:22  full story

USA: Four-month-old Romani boy is youngest child to be separated from his parents at the border with Mexico

18.6.2019 8:35  full story

Elena Gorolová, who campaigns for compensation for forced sterilization, featured on Czech talk show

2.5.2019 13:53  full story

Commentary: Czech Republic, Slovakia must compensate the victims of forced sterilization while they are still alive

23.4.2019 15:45  full story

video LIVE BROADCAST WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH: Last sessions of the Council of Europe's 7th International Roma Women's Conference

27.3.2019 5:20  full story

video LIVE BROADCAST TUESDAY 26 MARCH: Council of Europe holds the 7th International Roma Women's Conference

25.3.2019 18:15  full story

videoVIDEO: Roma Week in the European Parliament continues with a conference about antigypsyism

20.3.2019 17:08  full story

Elena Gorolová: I was shocked to be included among the BBC's 100 inspirational women of 2018

28.11.2018 19:09  full story

Romani activist Elena Gorolová is one of 100 Inspiring Women on the BBC's list for 2018

20.11.2018 19:42  full story

Czech and Slovak Victims of Coercive Sterilization Await Justice

8.3.2018 8:21 In November 2017, nine governments of the United Nations urged the Czech Republic to provide compensation to women – in particular Romani women and women with disabilities – coercively sterilized between the 1960s and 2004. The Czech government is expected to provide an answer to these Governments in the UN Human Rights Council in March.  full story

Illegally sterilized Romani women from Slovakia and the Czech Republic launch online petition as part of their fight for justice

24.1.2018 18:49 The Center for Civil and Human Rights, an NGO in Slovakia, has published a press release announcing an online petition that has been launched by illegally sterilized Romani women from Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The initiative is attempting to achieve justice from the government institutions in both countries that are responsible for delivering redress.  full story

Council of Europe calls for progress on women's sexual and reproductive rights, including redress of forced sterilization by Czech Republic

5.12.2017 6:26 “Women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights are human rights. Regrettably, however, women in Europe still have these rights denied or restricted as a result of laws, policies and practices that ultimately reflect continuing gender stereotypes and inequalities," Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks said today while releasing a new report on this topic, "Women's sexual and reproductive health rights in Europe".  full story

UN Human Rights Committee asks Slovak Government for independent body to investigate the forced sterilizations of Romani women

22.11.2016 17:13 The UN Human Rights Committee (UN HRC) has called on the Slovak Government to take responsibility for investigating past cases of forced sterilizations of Romani women and to establish an independent investigative body for that purpose. That is the outcome of the concluding recommendations published by the UN HRC after its October session of discussions with the Slovak Government delegation in Geneva.  full story

Czech Govt Roma Council reviews Romani Holocaust sites, victim database, and compensation for involuntary sterilizations

4.11.2016 15:38 The Czech Government Council on Romani Minority Affairs met on Tuesday in Prague and discussed much more than just the scandal in Žatec. After opening with a vote of agreement to call on the Interior Ministry and Police Presidium to report to the Council on the investigation there, the Council focused on the opening of the school year in relation to implementation of the amendment to the Schools Act legislating the education of children and pupils with special educational needs.  full story

Europe's Human Rights Commissioner raises lack of redress for involuntary sterilization with Czech Govt again

4.11.2016 13:13 The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, has reiterated to the Czech Prime Minister that an ex gratia compensation procedure for survivors of involuntary sterilization is the best way to redress them. In his letter, the Commissioner mentions that many other Council of Europe member states - namely, Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland - have assumed responsibility for sterilization policies that have resulted in human rights violations in the past and have established special remedies for those who have survived such treatment.  full story

Analysis: Swiss Parliament approves law on "solidarity aid" to victims of forced sterilization

21.10.2016 17:20 "Solidarity contribution" instead of compensation  full story

Elena Gorolová on forced sterilizations: We seek compensation, nobody will ever restore our motherhood

8.6.2016 18:33 "The financial compensation we seek is not everything. You can't buy your own child, you can't acquire what you've lost - the option of motherhood," Elena Gorolová, who has been fighting for 11 years for compensation for women who have been improperly sterilized in the former Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic, told news server iDNES.cz last week.  full story

Czech Republic: Romani women forced to undergo sterilization tell their stories through theater

3.6.2016 18:00 A theatrical production called "Stories That (Never) Began" ("Příběhy, které (ne)začaly") telling the stories of several women who were forced to undergo sterilization will be created at the Cooltour multifunctional space in Ostrava next week. Women who have survived such abuses will create the performance under the direction of theatrical professionals.  full story

OSCE/ODIHR Event to Focus on Justice and Redress to Roma Victims of Forced Sterilization in the Czech Republic

30.5.2016 18:50 On Wednesday, 1 June, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) will convene an international conference on providing justice and compensation to Romani women who have been subjected to forced sterilization in the Czech Republic. Those attending will be representatives of the Czech Government, survivors of forced sterilization, civil society organizations including Roma community organizations, international experts, and representatives of the Council of Europe, the OSCE/ODIHR, and the United Nations.  full story

Marek Szilvási: Czech Government should stop gambling with the country's reputation - the fight for compensation for forced sterilization is not over

4.11.2015 19:15 I remember being with the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) just a couple of months when I was invited to Ostrava to an informal meeting with the Group of Women Harmed by Coercive Sterilization, an informal collective of harmed self-advocating Romani women. The meeting was organised by the local Life Together NGO in early April 2012 to celebrate the fact that after years of local activism, lawsuits and advocacy struggles, the Government’s Council for Human Rights had finally recommended the Government develop a compensation scheme for involuntarily sterilized women. A month earlier, the Group, Life Together and the ERRC had sent an official letter welcoming this government commitment. I took an early morning train and after a half-day journey from Budapest to Ostrava, I was warmly welcomed by the Life Together staff and the Romani women activists, whom until then I knew only through phone calls and email correspondence. After shedding my water-soaked coat I entered the second room and was introduced to Monika Šimúnková, the Czech Government’s Human Rights Commissioner, and Kateřina Valachová, now the current Minister of Education, who was at that time working for the Ombudsman. The atmosphere was relaxed, almost festive, and I soon succumbed to it and started expecting this controversy soon to be over.  full story