Public AI Index: EUR 72/004/2003

Distrib: PG/SC

To: Health professionals

From: Medical team / Central Europe/West CIS Team

Date: 22 September 2003

MEDICAL ACTION

Allegations of illegal sterilization of Romani women

SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Key words: reproductive health / involuntary surgery / physical integrity / minorities

Source document: Slovakia: Failing to ensure an impartial and thorough investigation into allegations of illegal sterilization of Romani women(EUR 72/002/2003, 11 September 2003)

Summary

Amnesty International is concerned about allegations of forced sterilization of Romani women in Slovakia. The organization is particularly concerned that, in spite of its repeated appeals, the investigation into these allegations is not being conducted independently, thoroughly and impartially as required by international law. Furthermore, Amnesty International is concerned about the continued reported harassment and intimidation of victims, witnesses, and human rights defenders, in breach of international law and internationally recognized principles.

Background

Amnesty International is concerned about allegations of illegal, including forced, sterilization of Romani women in Slovakia. The organization is particularly concerned that in spite of its repeated appeals the investigation into these allegations is not being conducted independently, thoroughly and impartially as required by international law. Furthermore, Amnesty International is concerned about the continued reported harassment and intimidation of victims, witnesses, and human rights defenders, in breach of international law and internationally recognized principles.

Following the publication on 28 January 2003 of a report by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Poradňa – Body and Soul: Forced Sterilization and Other Assaults on Roma Reproductive Freedom in Slovakia – the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister initiated a criminal investigation into the reported allegations. On the same day, a press release issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister implied that the co-authors of the report, should the allegations in the published report prove true, would be investigated for failing in their legal duty to report a criminal offence. Furthermore, if the allegations in the report were not found to be corroborated, criminal proceedings would be initiated against the authors of the report for “spreading false rumours”.

From the very outset the criminal investigation did not comply with international standards. On 12 February 2003, 21 women from Romani settlements in Richnava and Bistrany had been questioned at the Krompachy police station in connection with sterilization procedures to which they had been subjected. The names of 19 women had apparently been given to the police by the staff of the Krompachy hospital. All of the women were taken for questioning by police officers who had come to their homes unannounced. Most of the women did not understand in what capacity they were wanted for questioning nor were they aware of their right to refuse to comply with an orally presented summons. Some women thought that they were being treated as criminal suspects. In view of the poor relations between the police and the local Romani communities such police conduct was perceived, particularly by women, as threatening and degrading. Furthermore the questioning of Romani women concerning the sterilization procedure to which they had been subjected had been conducted by male police officers who reportedly demonstrated no sensitivity to the intimate nature of the procedure, the circumstances in which it took place or its effects. At least two women who had claimed to have been forcefully sterilized stated that they were threatened by officers who questioned them. The officers reportedly implied that the women had been induced to claim that they had been forcefully sterilized with promises of financial and other gain. The women were reportedly told that they should sign a criminal complaint for the offence of genocide, although they had no knowledge of, nor had they been instructed about, the significance of the formulation of this charge. At the same time they were told that they would face imprisonment of up to three years for false accusation in case their complaint should prove to be false.

In February 2003 Amnesty International wrote to Pál Csáky, Deputy Prime Minister responsible for Human and Minority Rights, expressing concern about allegations of forced sterilization of Romani women in Slovakia.

In March 2003 the Deputy Prime Minister wrote to Amnesty International to assure the organization that the allegations of forcible sterilization of Romani women would be investigated thoroughly and impartially. Among a number of measures that had been put in place to ensure this the Minister of the Interior had appointed a special investigation team, comprising specialists on various issues involved in the case. The team would be based in Žilina, outside the region where the alleged offences had been perpetrated, with staff from departments from all parts of the country. A woman investigator had been appointed as chief of the investigation team. All investigation procedures would be videotaped. The Attorney General’s Office had taken over the monitoring of the investigation. The Deputy Prime Minister had invited Christine McCafferty, Vice-chairperson of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee for Social, Health and Family Affairs to conduct a fact-finding mission regarding the investigation.

On 23 June 2003 the Slovak government reported to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on the criminal and administrative investigations being conducted into allegations of forced and coerced sterilization in Slovakia and provided assurances that it will not pursue criminal proceedings against the authors of Body and Soul.

On 22 July 2003 Amnesty International, Center for Reproductive Rights, European Roma Rights Center, Human Rights Watch, International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Konzorcium Urobme to (Consortium Let’s Do It), Ľudia proti rasizmu (People Against Racism), Poradňa pre občianske aľudské práva (Center for Civil and Human Rights), and Slovenský helsinský výbor (Slovak Helsinki Committee) issued a joint statement expressing concern about the investigation into the reported forced sterilization of Romani women in Slovakia (see AI Index: EUR 72/001/2003). They issued detailed recommendations to the Slovak Government to ensure that the investigation is impartial and thorough. They also urged the Slovak government to establish a commission of inquiry independent of the criminal investigation to inquire into past and present sterilization practices.

On 13 and 14 August 2003, in the course of interrogations held at the police stations in Spišské Vlachy and Krompachy, investigators threatened at least 11 Romani women that they would be prosecuted for submitting a false complaint if the investigation fails to prove their allegations of forced sterilization. Furthermore, women, who had been pregnant before they were 15 years old, were told that their husbands or partners would be prosecuted for statutory rape. Some of them were subsequently questioned by the relevant investigators. On 13 August 2003, Romani women in Bystrany were interrogated in Spišské Vlachy without having received prior written notice or summons. Police officers simply came to the settlement and told the women that they should immediately come to the police station for questioning.

The investigation appears to be focused on establishing whether free and informed consent to the sterilization had been obtained and whether there had been medical indications for carrying out the sterilization procedure. Amnesty International has concerns about how the investigation is reportedly handling both of these issues.

Recommended actions

Please write polite letters to the Slovak authorities listed below in Slovak, English or in your own language, making the following points:

In your letters to the Minister of Interior and the General Prosecutor, urge them to:

• express concern about the alleged involuntary sterilization of Romani women in Slovakia

• ensure that the investigation into these allegations is carried out impartially, thoroughly and effectively;

• fully examine the circumstances under which consent to sterilization was given, noting that according to international standards and international medical associations, a signature alone is not de facto evidence of full and informed consent and there is no immediate threat to health that would require a doctor to perform sterilization without the full and informed consent of the patient;

• ensure as a matter of utmost urgency that the victims, witnesses and human rights defenders are protected from harassment and intimidation; that the rights of the victims are respected and that they are treated with dignity;

• bring to justice anyone found responsible for human rights violations;

• ensure that the victims promptly receive appropriate compensation;

• set up a commission of inquiry independent of the criminal investigation to inquire into past and present sterilization practices.

Write to the Minister of Health:

• expressing concern about the alleged involuntary sterilization of Romani women in Slovakia

• urging him to ensure that the victims and their legal representatives are given unimpeded access to the appropriate information without which they are not able to file compensation claims.

Copies

Please send copies of your letters to the Slovak Medical Association and to the nearest diplomatic representatives of the Slovak Republic.

Note: . If you do not get a reply to your first round of letters, it does not mean that your letter was not received and read by the authorities. It is important to keep up a flow of letters to demonstrate to the authorities that there is international concern with the investigation into the allegations of illegal sterilization of Romani women and the treatment of the victims and human rights defenders.

If the authorities do reply, please send a copy to the IS medical team.

Addresses

Prime Minister

Mikuláš Dzurinda

Námestie Slobody 1

81370 Bratislava

SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Fax: +421 2 392 603

Minister of Justice

Daniel Lipsic

Minister of Justice

upné námestie 13

81311 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Fax: 421 2 5935 3607

Minister of Health

Rudolf Zajac

Ministerstvo zdravotníctva SR
Limbová 2
P.O.BOX 52, Bratislava 37
Slovak Republic
Fax.: + 421 2 5477 7983

Copies

Please send copies of your letters to:

Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission for Human Rights and Minorities

László Nagy

Narodná Rada Slovenskej Republiky

Mudroova 1

81280 Bratislava

Slovak Republic

Fax: 421 2 5443 0681

SkmA:Slovak Medical Association
Legionárska 4
SK - 81322 BRATISLAVA

Slovak Republic
tel: +421-7-5542.4015
fax: +421-7-5542.2363
e-mail: secretarysma@ba.telecom.sk