MINELRES: Helsinki Commission to Hold Briefing on the Sterilization investigation in the Czech Republic

[minelres@lists.microlink.lv]

Original sender: Helsinki Commission News <news@csce.gov>


234 Ford House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-6460
Senator Sam Brownback, Chairman
Rep. Christopher H. Smith, Co-Chairman

www.csce.gov
Media Contact: Shelly Han
202.225.1901

For Immediate Release 
August 7th, 2006 


HELSINKI COMMISSION TO HOLD BRIEFING ON THE STERILIZATION INVESTIGATION
IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC 

Expert to Testify on Sterilization of Romani Women without Informed Consent

(Washington) � During the 1970s and 1980s, the Czechoslovak Government
pursued a policy aimed at reducing the birthrate of Roma, including by
targeting some Romani women for sterilization.  Although it was
generally assumed that the practice of sterilizing Romani women without
their consent had stopped after the fall of communism, allegations that
this practice had not definitively ended persisted throughout the 1990s,
in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  On December 23, 2005, the
Czech Public Defender of Rights issued a report confirming that some
women had been sterilized without informed consent.  The Czech
Government has not yet acted on the Public Defender�s recommendations.  
 
In order to examine this issue more fully, the Helsinki Commission will
hold a briefing on the state of the investigation into sterilization in
the Czech Republic.
 
In particular, the briefing will address:

The investigations into sterilization practices in the Czech Republic;
The impact of sterilizations without informed consent on victims; and
Recommendations for further action.
                   
The Sterilization Investigation in the Czech Republic
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
2:00 � 3:00 p.m.
2255 Rayburn House Office Building
 
Witness: 
Gwendolyn Albert, Director, League of Human Rights (Prague)


The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the
U.S. Helsinki Commission, is an independent agency of the U.S.
Government charged with monitoring compliance with the Helsinki Final
Act and other commitments of the 56 participating States in the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

# # #
http://www.csce.gov/index.cfm?
Fuseaction=ContentRecords.ViewDetail&ContentRecord_id=519&ContentType=P&ContentR
ecordType


---------------------------------------------
This message was sent using Endymion MailMan.
http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ http://www.microlink.com/