Access to Quality Care
Roma Women Speak Out
Roma women share their experiences of discriminatory treatment in reproductive health care settings in Slovakia. Segregation. Racial harassment. Physical restraint and neglect during childbirth. Roma women in Slovakia speak about their experiences of discrimination and abuse in reproductive health care facilities. Together with the Slovakia-based non-governmental organization Poradňa pre občianske a ľudské práva, we interviewed […]
New Report: Roma Women Experience Discrimination, Receive Poor Reproductive Health Care In Slovakia
New Report: Roma Women Experience Discrimination, Receive Poor Reproductive Health Care In Slovakia European Union Pledges 500 Million Euros Towards Gender Equality Fund (PRESS RELEASE) Roma women living in Slovakia report facing discrimination, segregation and abuse when obtaining reproductive health services, according to a new report from the Center for Reproductive Rights and Slovak organization […]
Roma Women Win Justice at European Court of Human Rights
Today, the European Court of Human Rights found that Slovakia had violated the human rights of eight Roma women who had been denied information about their reproductive health. The women in the case, K.H. and Others v. Slovakia, were unable to get pregnant after delivering children via C-section. Suspecting that they may have been […]
CEDAW calls on Slovakia to Address Forced Sterilization and Refusals of Care
Slovakia must take urgent action to prevent Roma women from being sterilized without prior and informed consent. This was a key concluding observation from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which reviewed Slovakia on July 2. The Committee called on the government of Slovakia to better monitor public and private […]
Council of Europe Finds Evidence of Forced Sterilization of Romani Women in Slovakia
Commissioner for Human Rights Calls on Slovak Government to Accept Responsibility for Failing to Protect Women from Illegal Sterilizations and to Enact Laws to End Practice On October 29, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe concluded that “it can reasonably be assumed” that Romani women in Slovakia were sterilized without their […]
Slovak Investigation Covers Up Human Rights Abuses
At the conclusion of a criminal investigation tainted by strong-arm tactics, the Slovak Deputy Prime Minister of Human Rights and Minorities Pál Csáky rejected the findings of a human rights report that documented 110 cases of Romani women who were forcibly and coercively sterilized in public hospitals in eastern Slovakia. “The continued harassment and intimidation […]
Human Rights Groups Call on Slovakia to Address Illegal Sterilization of Romani Women
Amnesty International, Center for Reproductive Rights, European Roma Rights Center,Human Rights Watch, International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Today, nine international human rights groups joined forces to urge Slovakia to conduct an impartial and adequate investigation of illegal sterilizations of Romani women. In a joint statement, the groups urged the Slovak government to address serious […]
Body and Soul: Forced Sterilization and Other Assaults on Roma Reproductive Freedom
Romani women in Slovakia continue to be subject to grave violations of their human rights, particularly their reproductive rights, even though a communist-era law offering monetary incentives for sterilization has been rescinded. A three-month fact-finding in late 2002 by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Poradna pre obcianske a ludské práva (Centre for Civil and […]
Romani Women Subject to Forced Sterilization in Slovakia
Rights Violated by Health Care System New York, NY – Romani women are being coerced or forced to undergo sterilization procedures in eastern Slovakia’s government-run health facilities, according to a new report released today by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Poradna pre obcianske a ludské práva, in collaboration with Ina Zoon. Two hundred and […]