Excerpt from

“Struggling for Ethnic Identity: Czechoslovakia’s Endangered Gypsies”

Human Rights Watch, August 1992

• Sterilization of Romani Women in the Communist Era
• Since 1989
• Recommendations
• Appendix A: 1972 Decree on Sterilization
• Appendix B: Financial Grants for Sterilizations

Sterilization of Romani Women in the Communist Era

During the communist era, a significant number of Romany women were sterilized. Many Romany women reported to Helsinki Watch that they were sterilized without their informed consent during a caesarean section or an abortion. Others claim that they were pressured into agreeing to the operation by government social workers and health workers. Most reported that they were enticed with monetary incentives offered to them in bad times by social workers. These incentives were available to all citizens, but were more persistently offered to Romany women, who were almost entirely dependent on government welfare. Others may still not know they have been sterilized.

A Public Decree on Sterilization, issued by the Ministries of Health of the Czech and Slovak Socialist Republics in 1972, outlined specific requirements and indications which a sterilization applicant had to fulfill in order to be granted permission to undergo sterilization. A sterilization commission which included the chief doctor of the gynecological or urological department of the hospital, the director of the Regional Institute of National Health, and the director of the Hospital with Polyclinics was authorized to examine each request. In theory, the Decree was designed to safeguard against arbitrary or ill-informed sterilization of all Czechoslovak citizens. In practice, however, the government reportedly took specific steps to encourage the sterilization of Romany women in order to reduce the “high unhealthy” Romany population and, as a result, a disproportionately high number of Romany women were sterilized, often in violation of the existing safeguards and of their rights to non-discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or sex.¹

Although the decree on sterilization never specifically refers to Romanies, other government documents reveal that the government sought to regulate and lower thebirth rate of Romanies. The communist government's concern over the high birth rate of the Romanies was repeatedly couched in terms like the “high unhealthy population” of the Romanies. Charter 77 asserted in 1979 that sterilization of Romany women was a “planned administrative policy” and that “at internal meetings the success of the workers is assessed according to the number of Romany women whom they have persuaded to be sterilized.”² This is reinforced by a July 1977 document obtained by Helsinki Watch prepared by the Secretariat of the Government Commission for Questions of Gypsy Inhabitants of the Slovak Socialist Republic. The authors state, “Health indications which will enable the possibility of sterilization are not being taken into account.... In practice, the gypsy citizens have not been influenced enough until now to use the possibility of sterilization ... in cases when further pregnancy endangers the health of further descendants.”³ The authors report that previous efforts to control the “high unhealthy” Romany population through family planning and contraception had been unsuccessful and discuss the possibility of using sterilization to control the Romany population, exploring ways to obtain the “consent” of Romany women to undergo the sterilization:

Concerning the rarely used possibility of sterilization, health workers say that the reason is the low financial benefit for paying costs connected with hospitalization after sterilization. Even a backward Gypsy woman is able to calculate that, from an economic point of view, it is more advantageous for her to give birth every year because she gets significantly more financial resources from the state for the fifth and later descendants... for each child, she can get more than the benefit of sterilization.... Therefore, health workers recommend to increase the grant for sterilization to 5,000 Crowns.⁴

This government document clearly links monetary incentives with obtaining the consent of Romany women to undergo sterilization. Further measures that influenced the fully informed and voluntary consent of Romany women to undergo sterilization were officially implemented in 1988. Apparently the need to up the sterilization ante was taken into consideration, and in September 1988 an official policy was initiated which allowed one-time financial grants for women who underwent an operation in "the interest of the health of the population."⁵ Again, this provision for financial grants did not directly state that it was to be used for sterilization or for Romany women. In practice, however, these paragraphs were used in both the Czech and Slovak republics to entice Romany women into undergoing sterilization. These grants varied from region to region, women in the Czech republic generally receiving a grant of up to 10,000 Crowns and in the Slovak republic of up to 25,000 Crowns.⁶ This grant came in the forms of money and coupons for such things as furniture.

Helsinki Watch interviewed several Romany women who underwent sterilization under circumstances which indicate that they did not give their full, informed, and voluntary consent. Many now regret having had the operation and want to have children again. From these interviews, it is possible to isolate three main variables which seem to have influenced the women's decisions: financial incentives that were broken up into cash payments and coupons for things like furniture; pressure from social workers, social curators,⁷ and local commissions for the “Gypsy question,” who repeatedly suggested and offered financial rewards to women to undergo sterilization; and the role of doctors, whose activities ranged from legally encouraging women to be sterilized to possibly violating the decree on sterilization by misinforming women in order to obtain consent before performing an operation or by not informing them at all.

Helsinki Watch heard several reports from Romany women who claim that they were sterilized after a caesarean section or an abortion without their consent. They claim that they were not fully informed about the operation and thus may have signed a request for the operation without realizing they were doing so. It was impossible to verify these reports, as we did not have access to their medical files.

A.D., a Romany woman from Krompachy, claims she was sterilized after going in for an abortion:

I have a husband and six children. I have one grown-up son. I got pregnant with another man while my husband was in jail. He had raped another woman and was in jail for eleven years. I was young, I behaved like a whore, and so I slept with another man. I got pregnant. So I went to get an abortion, and they told me, “Be so kind as to sign here before you go in for the abortion.” So I signed and went in for the abortion. They just gave me the paper to sign, folded it, and put it into an envelope. I didn't know anything. After the procedure, they told me that something went wrong, that they had to repeat the procedure. I was afraid that part of the fetus would stay in me, so they gave me an injection and brought me upstairs to the operating room. After the operation, when I went downstairs, the women asked me what was wrong and I told them about the badly-done abortion. Then they told me that I had been sterilized. But at that time I didn't know what sterilization was. The doctor had explained to me that there would be a period of time when I wouldn't be able to have children and that maybe after a while I'd be able to have children again. But the other women told me that I wouldn't be able to have any more children. I was shocked. I said, this is impossible, no. I cried, wept and then Dr. Pavlini came in and slapped me across the face. He said “Shut up! Be happy you won't have any more children! You fucking Gypsy gang!” I began to make a scene there and told him that he had no right to use this tone with me. Then he said, “Be glad, you cunt, that you won't have any more children. How many Gypsies do you want to bring to this republic?” He said, “Hitler was a prick because he didn't kill all of you. What, do you want to overwhelm the entire republic?” And I remained silent. This happened four or five years ago. Now I have a new boyfriend and we want to get married, but I'm shocked because I can't give him any children.

Similarly, two Romany women who now live in Brno (in the Czech republic) told Helsinki Watch about their experiences in Gelnice, Eastern Slovakia. K.F. claims she was sterilized when she was eighteen years old with two children:

I had just given birth, and I was unconscious after a caesarean section. I had no idea I had been sterilized. A few weeks later I met my doctor on the street and he asked me, “Did I do a good job?” I said, “What do you mean?” He said, “So that you can't have children.” That's how I found out. Nobody told me in the hospital. Ever since then, I've had terrible pain in my abdomen. This was eight years ago.

Pavel Horvath told Helsinki Watch about his daughter's sterilization in Slovakia:

Five years ago, my daughter was sterilized without her knowledge. She was seventeen, and it was after her first child. They said nothing afterwards. She didn't even know she had been sterilized until after she moved. It was in her medical records, but she couldn't see them. It wasn't until she moved to Moravia and asked her new doctor why she wasn't getting pregnant that another doctor told her that she had already been sterilized.

Other women told Helsinki Watch that they themselves applied for the sterilization through the defined procedure. Most of these women were clearly motivated by the money they would receive and now say that they regret having had the operation. They say that the monetary offer came from social workers, who often refused to give them their welfare payments and claimed that the sterilization was the only way they could get some money from the state. Alzbeta Conkova, a Romany woman from Kosice who was twenty-six years old with four children when she was sterilized, told Helsinki Watch:

About seven years ago I was sterilized. I was supposed to get 30,000 Crowns. I'll tell you the truth. I went because we were at that time in very bad social conditions. I wanted to do it for the money. I already had this apartment, but the kids' room was empty, and I needed furniture for their room. I got 5,000 in cash and 10,000 in coupons for the furniture. But the social worker promised me 30,000 Crowns. I wouldn't have gone if not for the money. I was basically forced because of the money. During communist times they would give support for the Romanies, and when I went to the social worker to collect welfare, she told me that she wouldn't give me the normal social support, but that there was one possibilityÑto get sterilized and get the money. I went there to get the normal welfare and she told me that if I got sterilized I'd get money.

In Vysoke Myto, (in the Czech republic) I.G., a twenty-five-year- old Romany woman, told Helsinki watch about her sterilization in 1988:

The nurses and social workers used to come to my house and tell me I should have the sterilization. They came to me and said “Eva, just do this, you have no money, you already have too many kids, you'll be able to have nice things.” At that time, my husband was in prison. I was twenty-two, pregnant with my fifth child, and they said that I had to get an abortion, and they gave me 6,000 Crowns for this. One day, I got the abortion; the next, the sterilization. I was so silly at that time. I'm so sorry. They just kept on asking me, so I did it. After the operation, I feel terrible in all waysÑI get pain in my lower abdomen; I'm very nervous; I've changed. I'm getting slimmer and have acne now.

Furthermore, some women did not have much time to think over the operation or to discuss it with their husbands. M.K., from Medzev, Eastern Slovakia, reported:

I was twenty-one and had three children when I was sterilized ten years ago. There was no commission.⁸ I got no money. Right after I gave birth the doctor asked me if I wanted the sterilization. I said OK. Now I have many physical problems, pains. My husband was shocked and angry when he found out.

Gynecologists and social workers interviewed by Helsinki Watch admitted that many Romany women would not have requested the sterilization without the financial incentive. Dr. Okosova, presently working at the employment office in Rimavska Sobota, who worked at the local department for the care of families and children during communist times, reported:

Most of the Roma women here got about 26,000 Crowns to be sterilized. The majority of women who were sterilized were Romanies, mostly because they wanted the money. I can't say how many of them were sterilized here because nobody wanted to talk about it. The sterilization was done to lower the Roma population because there were too many of them. The parents didn't look after them; they didn't go to school. It made no sense to have so many more Gypsy children born under these conditions.

Dr. Pavlini, the head gynecologist at the hospital in Krompachy, told Helsinki Watch:

You've probably heard about sterilization, for which Romany women received a nice sum of moneyÑup to 20,000 Crowns. At this time, during the totalitarian regime, a commission that approved this matter existed, and there were people in this commission who weren't familiar with Gypsy settlements. The interest of a Romany patient was enough for them to approve the sterilization. This commission worked at the regional National Committees and they essentially pursued a noble aim of regulating the birth rate, because we see, and again I'll repeat what I said before, that the highest disease rate is among these children, and also the highest premature birth rate is among these children. . . . In my opinion, the women were motivated by money. And now some of them are coming here because they would like to have children now. It's not possible to reverse it. I don't think that the sterilization was in the public interest, nor was it meant to decrease the Romany population.

That money was intentionally used to convince women to agree to be sterilized is further substantiated by a 1989 article by two Slovak gynecologists that approvingly describes an increase in the number of Romany women sterilized in the year 1987 due to monetary grants.⁹ The article states that monetary grants had begun to have an effect on the number of Romany women sterilized in 1987. The Public Notice that officially allowed a one-time monetary grant for an operation “in the interest of the health of the population,” however, was not effective until 1988. Thus, we can conclude that the practice of offering monetary grants in connection with a sterilization operation was conducted by government employees before they were officially authorized to do so. This reinforces the claims of Charter 77 that a “planned administrative policy” to sterilize Romany women existed.

In addition, the government's apparent belief that certain communities of Romanies were inbreeding to an unhealthy degree was expressed in a Helsinki Watch interview with Elena Jonasova, a social worker in Banska Bystrice:

We started the [sterilization] because the population of undesirable families was starting to rise. It was based on our findings that they have unhealthy children, an undesirable population. It was shown that these families didn't care about health. One such region is Horehroni, where there are about 500 families. It was evident that they were “marrying” among themselves, that these families were genetically endangered ... and were having genetically-impaired children. This group of people is on such a low social level that they don't have any idea how an unhealthy population comes to the world. Then ... we went among them with health workers and convinced them to do it.... Someone gave this information to the press and called it genocide.... There was no genocide, no intention to get rid of the Romany nation. It was for the health of the population .... The one motive for this Romany woman was financial. We explained to her that she could do more for herself, that she could go to work and so on. The price was from five to twenty-five thousand Crowns. It depended on the financial and social level of the family. When it was a family that needed to furnish their apartment, then we bought furniture for the apartment.... It was never done without the woman's consent and ... the woman had to decide for herself to come to the hospital. At first we visited the women, and with other social workers we convinced them.

The supposed genetic inferiority of certain groups of Romanies was debated by the medical community. One Prague gynecologist and professor, who chose not to be named in this report, gave Helsinki Watch the following information about sterilization in Slovakia:

There was a conference of gynecologists in Bratislava in the late 1970s. One of my colleagues from Slovakia gave a report on the birthweight of children. She said that the birthweight of Gypsy children was around 100 grams less than that of other children. She explained this phenomenon in the following wayÑfirstly, that they are a different ethnic group, and secondly, that they have a lower intelligence quotient and therefore take care of their children less because they are stupid. So then I asked her, “Mrs. Colleague, can you explain the method you used to ascertain the intelligence quotient of Gypsy women? And which control group did you use among Slovak women?” She answered, “It's not necessary to do it in such a difficult way. It's enough just to talk to them.” So I said, “You should have said, ‘By talking to Gypsy women, I have concluded that they're less intelligent.’ If you use the term intelligence quotient, you must use it in the proper way, since this term is used by people with an intelligence quotient of higher than 100.” Then another colleague said to me, “You don't have to make it so complicated. Just look at how many Gypsies have completed middle and higher education.” Then I got angry and said that conferences of gynecologists don't have the purpose of breaking the Czechoslovak law about racism. I said, “I don't want to be unpleasant, but tell me how many Slovaks had a middle or higher education at the time of the First Republic? Does that mean that Slovaks at this time were less intelligent than Czechs?” Then there was complete silence. A little later, one very nervous, excited gynecologist from Eastern Slovakia came up to me and said, “You people in the Czech republic don't know what Gypsies are like. Your Gypsies are more civilized. Here, they multiply like rabbits.” Then he told me that when he performed caesarean sections on Gypsy women, he automatically tied their tubes. I don't remember his name. He knew I was against this and he still told me. Perhaps he wanted to justify himself by trying to distinguish between their Gypsies and ours.

In Most, a city in Northern Bohemia heavily populated by Romanies, Jiri Biolek, a pediatrician, told Helsinki Watch:

No official politics for sterilization existed. I'm convinced that sometimes there was sterilization after a Caesarean section, when a very socially weak Romany woman, after having had six children, was sterilized without her knowledge. In my opinion, the gynecologist could find reasons for sterilizing a woman without her consentÑfor health reasons, after a caesarean section when the uterus is found to be weak. I think that the gynecologist had the right to do this without her consent. On the one hand, there are human rights. But on the other hand, when you see how these Gypsies multiply and you see that it is a population of an inferior quality, and when you look at the huge sums that had to be paid for the care of these children, it's understandable. These doctors are confronted daily with these situations.

Helsinki Watch obtained some statistics regarding how many Romany women were sterilized in relation to how many women were sterilized overall. According to “The Problems of Planned Parenthood among Gypsy fellow-citizens in the Eastern Slovakian Region,” by Dr. Posluch and Dr. Posluchova, 25.8 percent of the women who underwent sterilization in 1983 were Romanies; by 1987, this figure had risen to 36.6 percent.¹⁰ In a response to a letter written to Ruben Pellar and Z. Andrs from Prague inquiring about the material grants received by Romany women for sterilization, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of the Czech Socialist Republic wrote that twenty-five percent of the grants in the Czech republic for sterilization were given to Romany women, although Romanies constitute two or three percent of the population in the Czech republic.¹¹

Similarly, a social worker in Brno, Mrs. Skorupova, told Helsinki Watch:

Look at these statistics. In 1989, only nineteen Romanies were sterilized, as opposed to thirty-one non-Romanies. More non‑Romany women wanted the sterilization. But in Brno, the criminality among Romanies is very high. Look at statistics from 1990Ñthe total number of crimes was 334, whereas eighty-four of these were committed by Romanies.

Nearly fifty percent of the women sterilized in Brno in 1989 were Romanies, yet the social worker interpreted this as a low number; Romanies allegedly committed about twenty-five percent of all crimes in Brno, whereas the social worker considered this high.

The communist government of Czechoslovakia was accused several times of attempting to commit genocide on the Romany population by sterilizing Romany women and forcefully removing their children from their homes. The first such protest came from Charter 77 in 1979, in which the communist government was warned that it was in danger of breaking Law Number 259 of the penal code on genocide. This protest stated:

The policy of attempting to destroy this ethnic group must inevitably lead to further increases in repression: if its continued failure is not subjected to thorough review, Czechoslovak institutions will very soon find themselves guilty of breaking Article 259 of the penal code relating to genocide, among whose provisions are the following:

“1. Whoever seeks to destroy fully or partially any national, ethnic, racial or religious group;

. . .

b. takes measures in order to prevent reproduction among this group;

c. or forcibly transfers children from one of these groups to another will be subject to punishment of between twelve and fifteen years in prison or the death sentence.

2. Anyone who takes part in the act outlined in Paragraph 1 will be similarly punished.”

If the practice of forcibly taking Romany children from their parents and sterilizing Romany women continues as hitherto, then no attempt at concealment or judicial illegality will prevent the bringing of charges on the basis of firm evidence.¹²

Protests came from several local and international human rights organizations.¹³ Although there has been no official condemnation of these practices, the protests against and investigations of the violations of human rights have had some positive results, as we shall describe below.

Since 1989

From the fall of the communist regime in 1989 until late 1990, monetary incentives continued to be offered to women for sterilization. The last case documented by Ruben Pellar at the Committee for Human Rights in Prague in which a Romany woman received money after a sterilization occurred in August 1990 in Poprad, Eastern Slovakia, for 25,000 Crowns. After persistent protests by both Czechoslovak citizens and international organizations such as the Lau Mazeril Foundation, the paragraph that allowed a financial grant to be given for such operations is now in the process of being eliminated; women are no longer tempted by money or furniture to undergo the operation. Furthermore, regulations enumerated in the decree on sterilization have been amended and applicants must now obtain permission from a commission on which a lawyer and two independent doctors must also sit. Helsinki Watch received no reports of sterilizations of Romany women performed after offers of monetary incentives or pressure from social workers in 1991 or 1992. As far as we could tell, Romany women are no longer being targeted by the Czechoslovak government for sterilization, but prejudice among some government and health officials remains.

Although the practice of giving a financial grant to women for undergoing sterilization has ceased, many Romany women now feel that they were coerced or lured into undergoing the operation. Many claim that they did not fully understand the irreversible consequences of the operation. Others may have been sterilized and don't even know it. Furthermore, those doctors suspected of performing unlawful sterilizations on Romany women continue to practice in their professions. There is no guarantee that without a proper investigation and prosecution of past violations, doctors and government workers will not continue past practices which were sometimes based on “good intentions.”

The Committee for Human Rights in Prague has brought specific cases of sterilizations of Romany women to the attention of both Czech and Slovak prosecutors. Ninety cases of possibly illegal sterilization of Romany women were brought to the attention of the Czech Prosecutor in 1990. The Committee for Human Rights was promised an answer by September 1990, but still hasn't received any response. Slovak Prosecutors have investigated and dismissed several groups of cases, rejecting charges of genocide according to Law Number 259 of the penal code and claiming that other questionable sterilizations were not illegally performed. These decisions were often based on the assumption that the link between financial incentives and sterilization did not compromise women's full, informed and voluntary consent.

The District Examination Office of the Police Corps of the Slovak Republic in Presov, in response to the suggestion to investigate the cases of seventeen Romany women sterilized between 1985 and 1989, dismissed these cases on September 30, 1991, with the following reasoning:

In women who had not more than three children, the commission approved the request after obtaining the advice of the Regional Committee Health Department. Where worse social conditions of the family had been taken into consideration, and where these conditions had been found, the request of the woman for sterilization was approved.

M.K., M.P., L.F. and M.K. admit that they themselves requested the sterilization, but that they had done this after being pressured by workers from the former local National Committee¹⁴, namely the Chairman Mr. Zboray, Secretary Mrs. Triscova or the worker of the Regional National Committee Department for the Gypsy Question in Presov, Mr. Kormos. From the medical point of view, the sterilization commission approved the sterilizations on the basis of the women's requests for sterilization and thus the sterilizations were done by the doctors in the sense of the law.

The workers of the former local National Committee in Jarovnice and Mr. Kormos stated nevertheless that they actually did go among Romany women, especially women with multiple children where there were problems with the education of the children. This was enlightenment work and they informed them about the possibilities of sterilization, which was part of their work duties. But the questioned persons say that the Romany women applied for the sterilization themselves because they found out that if they underwent the sterilization operation, they would get considerable financial amounts which they received after the sterilization.¹⁵

The decisions of the prosecutors are based on the fact that the decree on sterilization does not target Romany women for sterilization, that the women signed consent forms for the operation, that in most cases the operation was approved by the sterilization commission and seemed to have been carried out in accordance with the decree on sterilization. However, they do not take into account the reasoning behind the monetary grants, aimed to control the growth of an “unhealthy population.” Furthermore, the reasoning of the Presov decision is not consistent with the then-existing decree on sterilization. There is no clause in the sterilization decree which allows sterilization of a woman younger than thirty-five with fewer than three children and in good health for “social reasons.” (See Appendix A for list of indications required for sterilization.) Furthermore, the prosecutor does not consider the possibility that the financial incentive offered by social workers may have had an influence on the “consent” of the women, many of whom were so poor that the instant gratification of getting a sum equivalent to half a year's salary may have played a decisive role in their decision. The Committee for Human Rights addressed these issues in a complaint written to the Presov Prosecutor on October 14, 1991. The prosecutor dismissed this complaint without ever addressing these issues.

The failure of the Czech Prosecutor to respond to the Committee's inquiries and the cursory investigations by the relevant Slovak district prosecutors' offices fail to answer several key questions which go to the heart of the nature of and accountability for past abuses of Romany women by the previous government. For example, what "social reasons" exist for legal sterilization according to the sterilization decree? What was the role of the monetary grant offered to the women by social workers? Did the financial incentive play a determining role in influencing the so-called consent of the women? Was an in-depth investigation conducted of the archives of both local and republic commissions for the “Gypsy Question” to ascertain whether there was a conscious attempt to lower the “unhealthy” population of Romanies? Are there any documents in government archives which indicate why the paragraph offering grants for women who undergo an operation in “the interest of a healthy population” was added in 1988?

Helsinki Watch found that many Romany families continue to suffer mental anguish because of the forced sterilization carried out in the communist era. Doctors and social workers who reportedly pressured Romany women into undergoing the sterilization and apparently violated then-existing laws continue to practice. The failure of government officials and judicial authorities to publicly condemn and fully investigate past policies and practices of sterilizing Romany women should be remedied. Public officials and doctors suspected of violating then-existing laws and decrees should be prosecuted. The cases of all women who claim to have been sterilized without their consent or under pressure should be reviewed; where violations are found, these women should be given monetary reparations. Only a thorough investigation of past practices can answer these questions, establish responsibility for past abuse and help put an end to on-going discrimination.

Recommendations

Helsinki Watch urges the Federal Government of Czechoslovakia, as well as the Czech and Slovak republic governments, to:

• Abide by the principles set forth in the Czechoslovak Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms as well as their obligations under International law to respect and promote the human rights of minorities; specifically to:

• Include Romanies as a national minority along with other national minorities in the constitution.

• End school segregation of Romanies.

• Evaluate the validity of current psychological and pedagogical tests of Romany children to determine whether they are culturally biased.

• Provide opportunities for children currently attending special schools to obtain the qualifications necessary to return to normal elementary schools.

• Provide scholarships or loan opportunities for higher education for needy students.

• Provide requalification courses for adults.

• Include information about the history and culture of Romanies in the curricula of primary and secondary schools.

• Prevent housing discrimination and eliminate unwanted segregation of Romany inhabitants. Encourage local governments to respect the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms and prevent restrictive regulations and petitions from limiting the freedom of movement of Romany citizens. Create an agency or provide an administrative mechanism for all persons to seek remedies to discrimination in housing.

• Analyze water supplies and soil samples from Romany ghettoes in Slovakia to ascertain whether they comply with acceptable standards of hygiene; if they do not, take steps to remedy the situation.

• Conduct a full investigation into discriminatory hiring practices and enforce the principles set forth in the Czechoslovak Employment Law as well as in the Czechoslovak Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms and international agreements signed by the Czechoslovak government forbidding discrimination.

• Ensure that the nationality of a person is not listed on state employment office computer printouts which are given to prospective employers.

• Ensure that local employment offices take action against any employer who requests only non-Romany employees and discriminates against Romanies.

• Encourage and create qualification and requalification programs; create the conditions necessary for the improvement of employment opportunities for Romanies.

• Amend the current employment law so that discriminatory hiring practices can be more effectively remedied.

• Create an agency which has the authority to receive and remedy discriminatory hiring practices.

• Abide by both Czechoslovak and International law when questioning Romany children.

• Ensure that local police officers do not enter the homes of Romany families without a warrant.

• Ensure that the police react to acts of violence against Romanies and protect them from attackers.

• Ensure that police officers write up reports whenever a citizen has a complaint.

• Cease the collection of statistics which designate Romany criminality as a special sort of criminality, and violate the individual's right to profess ethnic or national membership.

• Guarantee Romanies equal access to public services and accommodations, including public and private restaurants, discos and pubs.

• Provide effective administrative and judicial remedies for Romanies who have experienced discrimination in public services or accommodations.

• End hospital segregation of Romany women; provide them with equal treatment.

• Set up an independent commission to ascertain whether the Romany people were a target of sterilization policies. This should include an examination of the archives of government committees for the Gypsy question and statistics on the number of Romany women who underwent sterilization after the monetary grant was increased and an examination of the changes since late 1990, when the grant ceased. The medical records of women who claim to have been sterilized should be opened to such a commission, as well as to medical experts in cases where women think they may have been sterilized.

• If such an investigation reveals a “planned administrative policy” to reduce the Romany population, this information should be publicized and those responsible should be prosecuted under the then-existing Law 259 on Genocide; furthermore, these policies should be publicly condemned and all health and social workers should be informed of the results.

• In cases where individual doctors are suspected of sterilizing women without their knowledge, a full medical examination of the woman should be provided, and medical records should be reviewed. If misdeeds are found, doctors should be prosecuted.

• The Czech Prosecutor should examine the sterilization cases brought to his attention by the Committee for Human Rights in Prague and send them a response.

• Women who have been sterilized and are unhappy because they can no longer have children should be given information about the possibilities of reversing this operation, as well as the opportunity to undergo such a procedure when advisable.

• A procedure should be established to provide monetary compensation for women who are found to have been involuntarily sterilized.

Appendix A

1972 Decree on Sterilization

Bulletin of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Socialist Republic*

Part 1-2        29 February 1972        Volume XX

Par. 1

Sterilization is considered to be a medical treatment that prevents fertility without removing or damaging sexual glands.

Par. 2

Sterilization is admissible if it is done in a medical institution on the request or with the consent of the person on which the sterilization has to be done,

a) on morbid sexual organs of the man or the woman for a therapeutic purpose according to the rules of medical science,

b) on healthy sexual organs of the woman, if the pregnancy or childbirth would severely endanger the life of the woman or cause her severe and permanent life damage,

c) on the healthy sexual organs of the woman, if the woman suffers from a disease that would endanger the physical or mental health of her children,

d) on the healthy sexual organs of the man, if the man suffers from a permanent disease that could endanger the physical or mental health of his children,

e) on the healthy sexual organs of the man, if his wife suffers from a disease that can be a reason for the execution of sterilization according to letters b and c, but in respect to her health status the sterilization could be dangerous for her or because of other reasons for which the woman doesn't want to undergo the sterilization operation,

f) on the healthy sexual organs of the woman if her husband suffers from a disease that can be a reason for the execution of sterilization according to letter d and the husband doesn't want to undergo the operation,

g) on the healthy sexual organs of the woman if the woman permanently fulfills the conditions of artificial pregnancy termination for health reasons.

Par. 3

The list of indications which can be a reason for sterilization according to Par. 2, letters bBf, is in the appendix to these regulations; the indications for the execution of sterilization according to Par. 2, letter g, are identical with the indications for artificial pregnancy termination, if these indications have a permanent character.

Par. 4

The sterilization cannot be allowed if there are medical reasons against it (contraindications). Contraindications are all morbid states which don't allow surgical treatment. This is why a complete internal examination of the patient has to be done before the operation.

Par. 5

(1) To ascertain the fact that the sterilization is indicated is decided by:

a) in cases according to Par. 2, letter a, the chief doctor of the department where the man or woman is treated,

b) in cases according to Par. 2, letters b-g, a medical committee is made up for this purpose (sterilization commission). The sterilization commission is made up of the director of the Regional Institute of National Health at the Hospital with Polyclinics, and this for the sterilization of women at a hospital which has a Women's Department, and for the sterilization of men at a hospital which has a urology and surgical department. The chairman of the commission is the director of the Hospital with Polyclinics. The members of the commission are the chief doctor of the Hospital Women's or Urological or Surgery Department of the Hospital with Polyclinics where the man or the woman is treated and the chief doctor from whose branch is the indication or contraindication.

(2) For the evaluation of sterilization for genetic reasons (Par. 2, letters c and d) the sterilization committee is obligated to ask for the opinion of the Genetic Counseling Committee which is set up by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Socialist Republics on the request of the Genetic Committee and the Endocrinology Section of the Czech Medical Society of J.E. Purkyne/Czech Medical Society).

Par. 6

Sterilization for the reasons mentioned in Par. 2, letters b-g, can be requested in written form by the person on whom the sterilization is to be done, or by the doctor, the chairman of the appropriate sterilization commission (according to the place of permanent residence, ultimately the residence of the working place or school which the person attends), with the consent of the person.

. . . .

Par. 11

If the request is approved, the chairman sends the request to the applicant with a recommendation to the Women's (urology or surgical) Department, whose chief is a member of the commission. At the same time, he sends a copy of the report, which becomes a part of the clinical picture. Before the treatment, the person on which the sterilization is to be done must eventually sign [a release form] stating that she or he consents to the execution of the sterilization and that she or he takes heed of the written information regarding to what extent the sterilization is reversible.

Par. 12

If the request is rejected, the Chairman informs the applicant and eventually his/her legal attorney (Curator) of the result and reasons, and informs her or him of the possibility of reexamination of the decision according to the regulations of Par. 77 of the law number 20/1966.

Par. 13

The sterilization can be allowed in citizens of foreign states who have been living in the CSSR for a long time.

Par. 14

The regulations of the Ministry of Health number 22/1968 published in Vestnik MZ number 29/1966, are abolished, regarding the execution of sterilization.

Par. 15

These regulations become effective on January 1, 1972.

Appendix

List of indications which can be a reason for the execution of sterilization:

I. Diseases of the Heart and Cardiovascular System

II. Lung Diseases (in women)

III. Kidney and Urinary Tract diseases (in women)

IV. Diseases of the Digestive System (in women)

V. Metabolism Diseases (in women)

VI. Blood Diseases (in women)

VII. Diseases of Glands of Inner Secretion (in women)

VIII. Diseases of the Nervous System

IX. Mental Diseases (in women and men)

1. All psychoses with a severe chronic course or with repeated attacks.

2. Epilepsy with frequent fits and pronounced character alterations or psychic disorders.

3. Severe and medium forms of oligopheny (idiocy and imbecility)

4. Heterodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system.

5. Psychopathy with asocial behavior and recurrent criminality.

6. Severe sexual deviations.

7. Severe obsedant and phobic neuroses.

8. Progressive forms of chronic alcoholism or other drug abuses with the depravation of personality.

X. Skin diseases (1 and 2 in women and men, 3-5 in women)

XI. Diseases of the bones, joints and muscles (in women)

XII. Ocular Diseases (1-5 in women, 6 in women and men)

XIII. Hearing Diseases (in women and men)

XIV. Obstetrical and Gynecological indications

1. During and after the iterative Caesarean Section, if it is indicated that in a further pregnancy there is the highest probability that the woman doesn't want to face another childbirth by C. Section

2. During repeated complications of the pregnancy, delivery and confinement, where another gestation would be connected with a great threat to the health or life of the woman, for instance repeated uterus atonia, recurrent placenta praevis or acreta.

3. In cases of multiple children, to the age of thirty-five after four children, in women older than thirty-five after three children.

XV. Genetic Indications (in women and men)

1. If the woman or man suffers from a severe disease or defect in which the genetic basis is sufficiently known.

2. If the specific parental pair has already generated a genetically defective child.

3. When the woman or man is clinically healthy and has not generated a genetically defective child yet, but by expert analysis of the pedigree and through other examinations, for instance cardiologic or biochemical, it has been found that it is very probable that she or he is a carrier of a defective genetic constitution.

For genetic indications the opinion of the relevant genetic council committee is necessary.

Appendix B

Financial Grants for Sterilizations

Public Notice 151/152 of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of the Czech Socialist Republic from 8 September 1988.*

Sbirka zakon number 151,152/1988, 33, September 29, 1988, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, page 965, from the Bulletin of Health and Social Affairs of the Czech Socialist Republic, September 8, 1988.

Financial and Material grants

Par. 31

Financial and material grants to parents with children with no subsistence and to pregnant women:

(1) Financial and material grants are given by National Committees to socially weak parents taking care of children who still have to be taken care of, especially to families with a large number of children, single parents and single pregnant women. The financial grant can be given to a child who needs care only when it is not possible to satisfy the child's needs with the grant for alimentation.

(2) For the securement of alimentation or for the payment costs of other life needs which regularly repeat themselves, and eventually for the payment of higher costs connected to the cost of alimentation, repeated financial grants are given. Repeated financial grants serve to complement the parental income of the pregnant woman (regularly, up to the amount needed to secure the common costs of the household). It is possible to give a repeated financial grant of a higher amount when higher living needs are demonstrated, connected with for example housing, and running the household with limited capacities). Financial grants will be given in a lesser amount or will not be given if the parents don't take proper care of the children, don't care about the fulfillment of their compulsory school attendance, or because of their lifestyle, don't guarantee the proper education of their children.

(3) For the payment of non-recurring extraordinary expenditures, non-recurring financial and material grants are given. As material grants, particularly things needed for the satisfaction of basic life needs, clothing and outfitting of households, are given. Non-recurring financial and material grants are also given for the payment of increased costs for the needs of the children, especially connected with their hobbiesÑoutfitting for summer camps, spa treatment. Non-recurring financial grants can also be given when the family is going to use another source of energy besides oil.

(4) Non-recurring financial grants are given to the height of 10,000 Crowns. Material grants are given up to 5,000 Crowns, in extraordinary cases up to 10,000 Crowns.

(5) The giving of separate grants according to articles 1 and 2 is excluded.

Par. 35

Extraordinary financial grant and material grant. Citizens who underwent medical treatment according to extra regulations in the interest of the health of the population and for the reason of overcoming unfavorable life circumstances of the family can be given a non-recurring financial grant of one material grant according to Paragraph 31, Article 4, of this decree by the Regional National Committee, up till one year after the medical treatment.

Bulletin of the Ministry of Health of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Part 1-2, 29th.

This information was obtained from a report written by Ruben Pellar from October, 1991 called “‘Sterilization with Grant’ of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia.”