The Human Rights Blog

On March 22, 2011, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France held a Chamber hearing in the case of V.C. vs. Slovakia concerning a Roma woman who alleges she was forcibly sterilized by a Slovakian state hospital.  While Roma women have made claims of forced and coercive sterilizations by Eastern European countries for decades, this is the first case of its kind to reach Strasbourg.

Case Facts:

V.C. is a Roma woman and Slovakian national from Šarišská Poruba, Slovakia.  At the time of the sterilization, she was approximately twenty years old.  She has a sixth grade education and is unemployed.

According to her complaint, V.C. gave birth to her second child in 2000 via caesarian section at the Slovakian Ministry’s University Teaching Hospital in Presov.  While hospitalized at Presov, V.C. alleges that she was segregated because of her ethnic origin and placed in a “Gypsy room,” which was separated from the white patients.  It is also alleged that she was made to use separate bathroom facilities.

Hospital records indicate V.C. requested to be sterilized after being told by physicians that a third pregnancy would likely result in a ruptured uterus.  However, V.C. claims that the sterilization procedure was performed without her full and informed consent.  She alleges that while in the pain of the final stages of labor, doctors asked her if she wanted to have more children.  After responding in the affirmative, she was then informed that if she had another child, it would die.  V.C. states that it was at that time when she signed the consent form, without having knowledge or understanding as to the consequences of sterilization.  (See European Court of Human Right’s 2009 decision as to the admissibility of V.C.’s 2007 application)

V.C. claims that her ethnic origin played a key factor as to the way in which she was handled and the medical advice and treatment she received.  The Slovakian government denies all of the allegations, stating that V.C. was treated in the same manner as the white patients and that the medical advice provided was not based upon her ethnicity or skin color.

In 2006, V.C. filed civil complaint against the hospital staff, but ultimately the Presov Regional Court dismissed it on appeal.  The Court found that the sterilization was lawfully done, that it was a medical necessity and that V.C. had given her consent.

As indicated in the European Court of Human Rights’ Press Release issued by the Registrar of the Court on March 22, 2011, “[t]he applicant’s sterilisation has had serious medical and psychological after-effects. Notably in 2007/2008 she showed all the signs of being pregnant but was not (known as a “hysterical pregnancy”). Treated since 2008 by a psychiatrist, she continues to suffer from being sterilised. She has been ostracised by the Roma community and her current husband has left her several times due to her infertility.”

Slovakia’s History of Forced Sterilizations:

The practice of “Roma sterilization” dates back to the 1970’s when the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia regularly used forced or coercive sterilization measures to “control” the Roma population.  Roma women who participated in the procedures were given a government financial incentive as encouragement.

According to written comments submitted in 2009 to the UN’s Committee Against Torture by the Centre for Civil and Human Rights, “60% of the sterilisation operations performed from 1986 to 1987 were on Romani women, who represented only 7% of the population of the district. Another study found that in 1983, approximately 26% of sterilised women in eastern Slovakia (the region where the Applicants reside) were Romani women; by 1987, this figure had risen to 36.6%.  In 1992, a report by Human Rights Watch addressed the practice of coercive sterilisation in Czechoslovakia, noting that many Romani women were not fully aware of the irreversible nature of the intervention and was forced into it because of their poor economic situation or pressure from authorities.”  (also citing Statistical Evaluation of the Cases of Sexual Sterilisation of Romani Women in East Slovakia, 1990)

Although the Communist regime collapsed in the early 1990’s, the sterilizations continued.  Procedurally, they varied from hospital to hospital but the results were the same.  According to a 2001 Open Society Institute report, Finnish nurses noticed unusually high occurrences of sterilization and ovary removal in female Roma asylum seekers from Slovakia seeking refuge in Finland.

The “Body and Soul Report”

Perhaps the most influential and widely circulated report concerning the forced sterilization of Roma women in Slovakia came in 2003 when the Center for Reproductive Rights released Body and Soul:  Forced Sterilization and Other Assaults of Roma Reproductive Freedom.  For three months, the Center for Reproductive Rights, based in the United States, and the Centre for Civil and Human Rights, based in Slovakia, conducted interviews with more than 230 Roma women throughout eastern Slovakia.  “The interviews revealed numerous instances of coerced, forced and suspected sterilization of Romani women, along with physical and verbal abuse, racially discriminatory standards of care, misinformation in health matters, and denial of access to medical records.”  The Report culminated in a criminal investigation into the sterilization of Roma women.  However, it was eventually discontinued on the grounds that no wrongdoing had been committed.

The following 2003 documentary from Journeyman Pictures provides a comprehensive overview of the recent history of forced sterilization of Roma women in Slovakia.  Slovakian human rights attorney Barbora Bukovska, who gave comments in Strasbourg last month and who has been instrumental in bringing such cases to light, is highlighted in the film.

Access to Medical Records - K.H. and Others vs. Slovakia

Perhaps one of the most difficult hurdles Roma women faced in filing suit against state hospitals for forced sterilization was gaining access to their own medical records.  In 2002, eight Roma women in Slovakia attempted to retrieve their medical records after finding they were unable to conceive after undergoing caesarian sections.  The women wished to establish cause as to why they were unable to conceive.  After the hospitals refused to release their records, the women filed a civil suit in Slovak court.  However, their requests were denied and the Court held that the records were the property of the hospitals and not the women.

In 2004, the eight women filed suit against the hospitals with the European Court of Human Rights.  In April 2009, the Court ruled that denying the women access to their medical records was in violation of Article 6 paragraph 1 and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Specifically, the Court held that access to medical records is a right to private and family life and that those persons wishes to make photocopies of their own medical records should be allowed to do so without providing reason as to their purpose or objective.  The applicable articles of the European Convention on Human Rights states:

Article 6 paragraph 1:

In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Judgement shall be pronounced publicly by the press and public may be excluded from all or part of the trial in the interest of morals, public order or national security in a democratic society, where the interests of juveniles or the protection of the private life of the parties so require, or the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice.

Article 8:

1.  Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

2.  There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Human rights attorney Barbora Bukovska said this in response to the ruling:

“This case indicates the complicity of the Slovak Government in the practice of forced sterilization of Romani women.  Originally, in spring of 2002, we were able to access and copy medical records of our clients. But as soon as the hospitals realized we were seeking access to medical records on forced sterilizations, they halted the access. The Slovak Government, instead of rectifying the situation, supported the hospitals in their position and over the years, denied their responsibility for the violations. All of this in order to prevent forcibly sterilized Romani women from finding truth about their sterilization surgeries and seeking compensations for them.”  (See Press Release, Centre for Civil and Human Rights, April 2009)

A.S. vs. Hungary

While V.C. vs. Slovakia is the first case of forced sterilization against Roma women to be heard by the Human Right’s Court, legal precedence nonetheless exists.  In 2004, A.S. vs. Hungary was submitted to the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) alleging that a Hungarian Roma woman was forcibly sterilized in a Hungarian hospital while being treated after her unborn child died in the womb.  According to its findings communicated in 2006, CEDAW found that the woman signed a consent form to perform a caesarian section to remove the dead fetus, but that included within the consent form was a “barely legible” handwritten note that read:

“Having knowledge of the death of the embryo inside my womb I firmly request my sterilization.  I do not intend to give birth again; neither do I wish to become pregnant.”

After the procedure but before leaving the hospital, A.S. asked the doctor when she could try to have another baby.  “It was only then when she was informed as to the meaning of “sterilization.”’  (See CEDAW’s findings, 2006.)

Ultimately, CEDAW found that Hungary violated Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, specifically articles 10 (h), 12 and 16 paragraph 1 (e) which state:

Article 10 (h):

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in order to ensure to them equal rights with men in the field of education and in particular to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:

(…)

(h) Access to specific educational information to help to ensure the health and well being of families, including information and advice on family planning.

Article 12:

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health- care services, including those related to family planning.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article, States Parties shall ensure to women appropriate services in connexion with pregnancy, confinement and the post-natal period, granting free services where necessary, as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy and lactation.

Article 16, paragraph 1 (e):

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:

(…)

(e) The same rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights.

United States’ response:

In regards to forced and coercive sterilization, Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, United States Congressman Christopher Smith (R-NJ) stated, “as a matter of justice for the victims and truth about the past due to all the people of Slovakia this practice should be condemned as a grave human rights violation.”

The European Court of Human Rights is not expected to rule in the matter of V.C. vs. Slovakia for several weeks.  After their decision, either side may appeal the seven-judge ruling to the Court’s Grand Chamber.

For more information, please read the following article on NPR:  Court Hears Claim of Forced Roma Sterilization, Associated Press.

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The world’s most persecuted ethnic group is one with which many people are unfamiliar – The Roma – descendants of Punjabi warriors who left Northern India towards the end of the first millennia to escape the spread of Islam. The Roma are the largest ethnic minority population in Europe, with approximately 12 million living throughout the European Union.

My great-grandfather was a Cigany (Hungarian Roma) who came to America at 18 years-old with only his violin and the clothes on his back. Very tall, thin, handsome, and dark, my Great-Grandfather Holti stood out amongst Berwick, Pennsylvania’s immigrant population of Italians, Carpatho-Rusyns, and Poles. Although he was quiet and gentle, most viewed him as a dangerous man with “strange talents” (referencing his ability to graft a tree to produce four different types of fruit) and who played bizarre music on his violin. Because of fear and prejudice, my great-grandfather and his children faced many forms of mistreatment; from being banished from church to being stoned in the streets. While the discrimination against our family faded over time, my grandfather’s tale is similar to present-day accounts of abuse found across the Atlantic.

Throughout history and still today, the Roma experience some of the worst forms of persecution and disenfranchisement on earth – slavery, genocide, systematic segregation, extreme poverty, public humiliation and racism. Shortly after settling in Europe, the Roma were enslaved by the Romanians because of their dark features and seemingly strange lifestyle and language. Roma slavery lasted nearly 500 years until Romanian abolitionists, influenced by the United States’ anti-slavery movement, gradually freed the Roma in the mid-1850’s. After enduring subsequent banishments, imprisonment, and social exclusion, Roma suffered multiple periods of genocide; most notably Spain’s “Great Gypsy Round-up,” where Spanish Roma (gitanos) were captured and systematically separated by sex to avoid further procreation of the Roma race, and the “Gypsy Genocide” by the Nazis during WWII, in which 500,000 Roma were killed while thousands of others were used as subjects in genetic “race” testing.

Though many years have passed since the days of Roma round-ups, the Roma continue to suffer horrible human rights abuses, ironically at the hands of countries that boast the most progressive human rights policies in the world. Many Europeans harbor extreme prejudice towards Roma people because of pervasive cultural stereotypes. Hate crimes against the Roma are widespread and violent, as evidenced by a killing spree of Roma people in Hungary this year. Roma children in Europe have little access to adequate education, making their primary school completion rate equal to that of many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most Roma children attend segregated schools and those who participate in Europe’s mainstream schools are routinely placed in special education classes for the developmentally disabled.

In addition to citizen-prejudice, Roma families are often subjected to extreme EU member state policies. For example, 27 Roma-owned homes were demolished by Bulgaria’s Burgas municipal government just this fall. As a result, nearly 200 Roma people, including 80 children, were forced to the streets because no housing alternatives were provided. Even though the European Roma Rights Centre sent four letters of concern to Bulgaria’s Interior Minister, these families have yet to receive reparations. An example of the most controversial measure taken by an EU member state is Italy’s Ethnic Registration policy, which requires Italian Roma to register with the Italian government and submit to fingerprinting.

While conditions remain difficult for the Roma, there is some evidence of improvement. Just last week, donors in Brussels announced that over €25 million in funding will go towards the Roma Educational Fund. Still, while most measures are designed to help the Roma directly, most do nothing to change negative, long-standing stereotypes, which is the true catalyst for change. And, while the European Union strongly condemns all forms of violence against the Roma, public, blatant racism against them largely goes unchecked. For example, during a concert in Bucharest this past August, Madonna, who is adored by most Europeans, was booed offstage after she told the crowd of 60,000 that discrimination against the Roma in Eastern Europe “made her sad.”

The answer to protecting the most persecuted people in the world is a two-fold process: Educate and mandate. Europeans must be educated as to the true nature of Roma culture and identity. Public humiliation and violence against the Roma must not only be denounced by the European Union, but also punished by the European Commission. Likewise, European and Roma children alike should be taught Roma history, including the Roma Holocaust experience, and must be made aware of the Roma’s influence on European culture and society.

Do you agree that the Roma are the most persecuted people on the planet? Learn More About the Roma:

Hope for the Roma

Opre, Roma!

The Decade of Roma Inclusion

European Committee on Romani Emancipation

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Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. – JFK

On November 9th, the world celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  The Berlin Wall, a concrete and barbed wire barrier that stood as the physical division between East and West Berlin, served as perhaps the most recognizable symbol of the Iron Curtain, separating Western democratic ideology from Eastern communist thought.

In 1989, I was a fourth grade student, anxiously awaiting my 10^th birthday, which was one month away.  The night of November 9th, my Dad and I sat together to watch the ABC Nightly News with Peter Jennings, as we did nearly every evening.  The image I saw that night of ordinary individuals, shouting for joy while busting through the thick, concrete Wall covered in graffiti, is one of the most memorable media images of my childhood.  I was old enough to realize that I was watching freedom in action, which made me happy and excited although I did not fully comprehend the long history that went behind the story.

History of the Berlin Wall

Post WWII, the Allied forces of the United States, France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union divided Germany’s decimated capital city of Berlin into four zones.  While the US, French, and British zones became democratic, which allowed for a free-flow of information and ideas, the Soviet’s zone fell to communism.  Wishing to flee from the communist dictatorship, East Germans flocked to West Germany in droves – nearly 1,000 people a day – in the late 1950’s.  In response to the mass exodus, the East German government moved quickly and suddenly to construct a 27-mile long “fence” of concrete and barbed wire, completely dividing the city.  All communication lines between east and west were severed and residents were forbidden to cross the border.  The East German government told the people that the Wall was built to protect them from the West.  Soon thereafter, the East German government restricted all border crossings by barricading East Germany from all sides with barbed wire.  What came to be known as the Berlin Wall went through a series of “improvements,” changing the structure from a makeshift, barbed wire fence to a 12 foot high and over 100 mile long wall of concrete slab with steel girders and smooth pipes lining the top to prevent residents from climbing over the wall.

Conditions within East Germany became even more oppressive thereafter.  Residents lived in poverty and had little access to non-government controlled news and information. The Berlin Wall was guarded by armed East German soldiers at all times, who had authority to shoot those who attempted to defect.  Approximately 5,000 people attempted to escape over the Wall and hundreds were killed during their attempts. Perhaps the most recounted story is that of Peter Fechter, a young man who was shot by guards as he and a friend scaled the Wall.  While his friend made it to freedom, Fechter fell back to the East German side of the Wall where he was left on the ground for over an hour, bleeding to death while hundreds of civilians watched in horror.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

By the late 1980’s, Communism began to weaken. During a 1987 visit to Berlin, President Ronald Reagan insisted that the Wall be destroyed.  In 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev encouraged East Germany to follow the Soviet Union’s new policies of openness and democratic reform (glasnost and perestroika).  When the border of Austria and Hungary crumbled in September 1989, which allowed 30,000 East Germans to escape, mass citizen-protests against the East German government ensued.  On November 4, 1989, over one million protesters demanded free elections, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the right to travel.  Then, just as quickly and suddenly as the Wall’s construction commenced 28 years prior, the East German government announced that permanent relocation could begin immediately at all border checkpoints between East and West Berlin.  East Germans, shocked at the news, came to the borders to test the announcement, only to find that they were free to pass.  Soon, thousands of people, hammers and chisels in hand, joyfully chipped and carved away at the Wall while the world watched. The Berlin Wall, which stood as a symbol of communism and oppression for 28 years, was destroyed.

Construction of Another Wall is Nearly Complete

It may be difficult to imagine, but a new wall, which will dwarf the size and scope of the Berlin Wall, is under construction.  The State of Israel began building the Israeli West-Bank Barrier Wall nearly seven years ago to separate Israel from the West Bank.  Expected to be completed in 2010, the West-Bank Barrier Wall is a 400 mile-long, 26 foot-high mixture of fence and barbed wire, four times as long and high as the Berlin Wall.  In addition to the Barrier Wall, certain checkpoints include electric fencing, trenches, underground sensors, video surveillance and sniper towers.

Just as the East German government told its people that the Berlin Wall was a necessary means to protect them from the evils of Western influence, the Israeli government told its citizens that the West-Bank Barrier Wall is integral for their protection from Palestinian terrorists.  While the Israeli government expects the global community to believe that the Wall is a necessity, most in the international community agree that the Israeli government’s explanation is simply an excuse to impose grave restrictions on everyday Palestinian civilians. When complete, Palestinians who live near the Barrier Wall will lose access to their jobs, hospitals, and schools.

Five years ago, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion condemning the Wall as illegal and calling for an immediate cease in construction.  The Court found that the Wall violates international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, and warned the international community not to provide any aid or assistance to Israel for the Wall’s construction.   Since then, few actions have been made to put the ICJ’s ruling into practice and the Israeli government stepped up construction efforts.

Most recently, and in light of the 20^th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s destruction, Palestinian demonstrators approached the West-Bank Barrier Wall on November 9^th and pulled pieces from the structure using trucks.  Israeli occupation guards quickly arrived and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the protestors, squashing the protest .  Ironically that same day, President Obama made a video address to the German people, stating, “Today, there still those who live within walls of tyranny; human beings who are denied the very human rights that we celebrate today.  And that is why this day is for them as much as it is for us. It is for those who believe….that walls can truly come down.”

Considering President Obama’s encouraging words and his campaign promises to put human rights on the forefront of American politics, I look forward to the day when we may soon celebrate the fall of yet another barrier to human rights.  This weekend, I encourage you to revisit the history and fall of the Berlin Wall, and then find out what you can do ensure that the construction of similar barriers to freedom are never completed.

You can read more about the 20^th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall:

Take a Tour of the History of the Berlin Wall – The Newseum

The Fall of the Berlin Wall, Your Memories

Find out more about the Israeli West-Bank Barrier Wall:

What is the West-Bank Barrier Wall?

Stop the Wall!

West Bank Barrier Violates Human Rights

Tell President Obama What You Think:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/

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