COMPENSATION FOR THE VICTIMS OF FORCED STERILIZATION

APPEAL TO THE CZECH GOVERNMENT TO ADOPT THE CONCLUSIONS OF THE CALL OF THE UN COMMITTEE FOR THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN, CONCERNING COERCIVE OR NON-CONSENSUAL STERILIZATION OF CZECH CITIZENS, ESPECIALLY ROMANI WOMEN

We challenge the Czech government to urgently meet the call of the aforementioned UN Committee from March 7, 2016 The UN Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women has released its concluding observations on the Czech Republic (please see: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/CZE/CEDAW_C_CZE_CO_6_21660_E.pdf). Point 29 reads as follows: "29. In accordance with its previous concluding observations (CEDAW/C/CZE/CO/3, para. 24 and CEDAW/C/CZE/CO/5, para 35), its general recommendations Nos. 19 (1992) on Violence against women and 24 (1999) on Article 12 – Women and health, and the recommendations in the final statement dated 23 December 2005 of the Ombudsman in the matter of sterilizations performed in contravention of the law and proposed remedial measures, the Committee reiterates its call for the State party to: (A) Review the three-year time limit in the statute of limitations for bringing compensation claims in cases of coercive or non-consensual sterilizations with a view to extending it and, as a minimum, ensure that such time limit starts from the time of discovery of the real significance and all consequences of the sterilization by the victim rather than the time of injury; (B) Establish an ex gratia compensation procedure for victims of coercive or non-consensual sterilizations; (C) Provide all victims with assistance to access their medical records; (D) Prosecute and adequately punish perpetrator [sic] of the illegal past practices of coercive or non-consensual sterilizations; and, (E) Appoint an independent committee to conduct research into the full extent of harm caused by the practice of involuntary sterilisation, and support ongoing outreach to all potential applicants for compensation." We join this challenge of the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and ask at the same time the competent authorities of the Czech state to urgently develop or finalize work on the act on the compensation for illegally sterilized people (which Minister Dienstbier was supposedly entrusted with undertaking), to adopt it, and to began to apply it as soon as possible. The illegal sterilizations began in the distant past of the socialist state and culminated in the nineties, definitely continuing even after the end of the socialist period after 1989. Since then, 27 years have passed and the Czech State is still not able to cope with this painful past. The Czech state now has a unique opportunity to remedy one of the worst injustices of the past, perpetrated against Czech citizens, but especially against Romani women. If the Czech state does not take advantage of this opportunity, it will remain in a status that can only be described as scandalous and shameful. Prague, May 1, 2016