In September, several Roma women from Slovakia and the Czech Republic who had been forcibly sterilized in the past met up again. We organised their three-day meeting in Košice. The meeting was also attended by other committed Roma activists with whom we cooperate. Together, we have been working for many years to achieve justice for all forcibly sterilised women in both countries.

We were also visited by lawyers from the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights (eqaulity body), who spoke about their work towards compensation for forcibly sterilized women. We thank them for accepting our invitation to the meeting and supporting Roma women in their efforts for justice.

What did we do at the meeting?

  • The Slovak women spoke about how close they were to getting our parliament to pass a law that would allow injured women to seek compensation from the state. But they also talked about the shortcomings that this law had.
  • Czech women shared how the compensation law already passed is being implemented in their country. What is the procedure if a woman seeks compensation and what does not work in the whole process.
  • Together, the women tried to figure out how Czech women could support Slovak women so that a good compensation law would finally be passed.

We hope that the current Slovak Government will pay attention to this unresolved issue. We hope that it will submit a quality compensation law to Slovak Parliament, which will be approved. Injured Roma women have been waiting for this for many years.