The Arc of History: Will a Draft Bill Finally Bring Justice for Victims of Coercive Sterilization in the Czech Republic?
Keywords:
Human rights, medical ethics , coercive sterilization , Roma , Czechoslovakia, right to effective remedy, European Convention of Human RightsAbstract
This article summarizes state-of-play in efforts of victims of coercive sterilization to secure effective remedy, and in particular to receive financial compensation, a component of this fundamental right. The victims include in particular Romani women as well as women with disabilities, older women and intersex, although there is only limited documentation as concerns some of these groups. Coercive sterilization took place by policy in late Communist Czechoslovakia, and continued throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s in both Czechoslovak successor states, even though official policies guiding these practices had ended. This article focusses in particular on developments in Czechia, where there has been greater public acknowledgement of the practices than in Slovakia, including as a result of a 2009 official expression of regret on the part of the government. In particular, the article endeavors to provide an explanatory basis for a bill currently before Czech Parliament which would provide financial compensation to victims.References
Bock, G. 1986. Zwangssterilisation im Nationalsozialismus. Studien zur Rassenpolitik und Frauenpolitik. Opladen: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Cahn, C. 2015. Human Rights, State Sovereignty and Medical Ethics: Examining Struggles Around Coercive Sterilization of Romani Women. Leiden: Brill.
Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization: An interagency statement, OHCHR, UN Women, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO. 2014. World Health Organization. Dostupné na: https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/gender_rights/eliminating-forced-sterilization/en/
Elshtain, J. B., Cloyd, J. T. (eds.). 1995. Politics and the Human Body: Assault on Dignity. Nashville, London: University of Vanderbilt Press.
Haave, P. 2000. Sterilisering av tatere 1934–1977: en historisk undersøkelse av lov og praksis. Oslo: Norges forskningsråd.
Human Rights in Czechoslovakia: The Documents of Charter 77: 1977–1982. 1982. Washington, D. C.: Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Congress of the United States. Dostupné na: https://www.csce.gov/international-impact/publications/human-rights-czechoslovakia-documents-charter-77-1977-1982?page=15
Charta 77 – 4. část. 2000. Romano džaniben 7 (2000), 1–2, 12–16. Dostupné na: www.dzaniben.cz
International Council on Human Rights Policy. 2010. Modes and Patterns of Social Control: Implications for Human Rights Policy. Geneva:International Council on Human Rights Policy.
Lišková K., Bělehradová, A. 2019. 'We Won't Ban Castrating Pervs Despite What Europe Might Think!': Czech Medical Sexology and the Practice of Therapeutic Castration. Medical History 63 (3): 330–351. Doi: 10.1017/mdh.2019.30
OSCE/ODIHR Summary Report of the Conference: Forced and Coercive Sterilization of Roma Women: Justice and Reparations for Victims in the Czech Republic. Organized by the OSCE/ODIHR Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues. 2016. Varšava: OSCE/ODIHR. Dostupné (v angličtině i češtině) na: http://www.osce.org/odihr/sterilization_report
Sokolova, V. 2008. Cultural Politics of Identity: Discourses on Roma in Communist Czechoslovakia. Stuttgart: Ibidem Verlag.
Steriliseringsfrågan i Sverige 1935–1975. Ekonomisk ersättning [Problémy se sterilizací ve Švédsku v letech 1935–1975 – finanční kompenzace]. Zpráva švédské vlády, 1999. Dostupné na: https://www.regeringen.se/rattsliga-dokument/statens-offentliga-utredningar/1999/01/sou-19992/
Thomas, D. C. 1999. The Helsinki Accords and Political Change in Eastern Europe. In: Risse, T., Ropp, S. C., Sikkink, K. (eds.). The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, s. 210–227.
Turda, M., Weindling, P. J. (eds.). 2007. Blood and Homeland: Eugenics and Racial Nationalism in Central and Southeast Europe 1900–1940. Budapest: Central European University Press.
Závěrečné stanovisko veřejného ochránce práv ve věci sterilizací prováděných v rozporu s právem a návrhy opatření k nápravě, ze dne 23. 12. 2005 (Sp. zn.: 3099/2004/VOP/PM a násl.). Dostupné na: https://eso.ochrance.cz/Nalezene/Edit/2596
