Commissioner O’Flaherty published today letters to the Prime Minister and to the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and the President of the Senate of the Czech Republic. The letters call for the urgent extension of the law on compensation for victims of forced sterilisations conducted between 1966 and 2012, most of whom are Roma women.
The law entered into force in 2022 and is due to expire on 1 January 2025. However, many victims could not obtain compensation due to shortcomings in the procedure and practice. Of the almost 1,500 compensation claims processed, only 688 were granted, and the rest were rejected.
“For those victims who did not have medical records of sterilisation, there was a lack of clarity as to which other types of evidence would be acceptable, if any”, writes the Commissioner. The Czech courts have also identified flaws in the practice of compensation, mainly related to the threshold of evidence required and the burden of proof imposed on victims.
The Commissioner asks the Czech authorities to urgently initiate and adopt legislative changes to extend the law for a period sufficient to ensure access to compensation for all victims. He also recommends addressing the identified shortcomings to ensure that all victims can obtain compensation under a clear and consistent procedure.