Sterilization of Czech Gypsies (Romanies) is Allegedly to Continue Nowadays

Last year, a government investigator had published a research supporting the claims of Gypsy (Roma) women, who accused Czech doctors of coercive sterilization during the Soviet era. In that period, Gypsy (Roma) sterilization was a national policy, aimed to diminish poverty and extend family planning among Gypsies (Romanies). This practice was part of the eugenics policy, which was widely accepted in Europe and the United States in the 19th - 20th centuries. In 1979, the human rights group Charter 77 announced this policy to be a sort of genocide.

The sterilization was often applied on women after number of births. The women were told that they are about to go through an urgent necessary operation, and gave formal confirmation to sterilization without understanding, that the operation will prevent them from giving birth again. Most of them assumed that sterilization is a kind of body cleansing.

The Health Ministry of Czech Republic acknowledges the problem, but refuse to take responsibility. The Roma (Gypsy) activists say, that the practice of Gypsy involuntary sterilization, which began during the Soviet era, still continues.