Investigation Begins Into Forced Sterilization of Gypsy Wome

Investigation Begins Into Forced Sterilization of Gypsy Women
By Andrea Dudikova Associated Press Writer
Published: Mar 6, 2003

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) - Police have launched an investigation into allegations that more than 100 Gypsy women have been sterilized against their will at hospitals in eastern Slovakia, a spokesman said Thursday.
The team of four investigators, based in the northern city of Zilina, has asked experts at a university in Bratislava to analyze whether the sterilizations were medically needed, police spokesman Stanislav Ryban said.

The probe is responding to a January report by two human rights groups claiming that 110 Gypsy women had been forcibly sterilized since the fall of communism in 1989.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, in New York, and the Center for Civil and Human Rights, in Kosice, based their joint report on interviews last year with women living in 40 Gypsy settlements in eastern Slovakia, as well as doctors and other officials.

The accused doctors and hospitals deny the allegations.

Some women interviewed said they were forced to sign an authorization form for sterilization while they were under anesthetics for other medical treatments.

Two Gypsy women have since brought charges against doctors at a hospital in Krompachy. Jana Kviecinska, the director of the government's human rights department, filed a separate complaint to police.

Slovakia's Gypsies, also called Roma, are among the country's poorest citizens and live in settlements outside cities and villages.

Earlier this week, Health Minister Rudolf Zajac said so far there was no evidence that forced sterilizations had been carried out.

The European Union, which Slovakia expects to join in 2004, repeatedly has urged the government to do more to improve the living conditions of Gypsies.