The UN Committee issued its Concluding Observations concerning the Slovak Republic‘s compliance with its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination of Women, which was the subject of the UN Committee’s 41^st Session in New York.

The Committee accepted, with regret, the continuous denial of the existence of the practice of forced sterilizations of Romani women and, at the same time, expressed significant concern about it. It recommends that the Slovak government consistently monitor whether sterilizations are performed only after obtaining the informed consent of the woman. The Committee calls upon the Slovak government to explicitly sanction sterilizations not performed in accordance with the law.

The Center for Civil and Human Rights  and the International Federation of Human Rights welcome the observations and recommendations of the UN Committee, which fully reflect their report to the Committee. Barbora Bukovska, the Center for Civil and Human Rights‘Board member, stated, "The Slovak government must change its attitude to the practice of forced and coerced sterilizations of Romani women. We call upon the government to take responsibility for such violations of human rights and to ensure that the perpetrators are sanctioned and the victims compensated. The government is obliged to take measures with a view to dealing with this unlawful practice and the NGOs are ready to help the government in this process."

The Center for Civil and Human Rights has been helping the survivors of forced sterilizations in Slovakia since 2002, providing them with legal representation in the court proceedings. The Center believes that the practice of forced sterilizations has not been thoroughly investigated in Slovakia, which constitutes violations of both domestic and international legal regulations.

Compiled from: "Slovakia Must Take Responsibility for Forced Sterilizations," Center for Civil and Human Rights, Changenet, August 4th, 2008.