On Wednesday 11 December, Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, published the letters sent to the Prime Minister and to the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and the President of the Senate of the Czech Republic asking them to urgently extend the law on compensation for victims of forced sterilisation between 1966 and 2012.
This text, which came into force in 2022, will expire on 1 January next year, despite the fact that “some victims may have refrained from applying for compensation due to the unclear procedure and inconsistent practice of decision-making”.
Inaccuracies relating to the evidence accepted in the absence of medical records, the threshold of proof required and the burden of proof imposed on victims are the main issues raised.
Most of the victims of these forced sterilisations are Roma women.
To date, out of almost 1,500 claims processed, only 688 have been awarded.
Link to the letter to the Czech Prime Minister: https://aeur.eu/f/erb
Letter to the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and the President of the Senate of the Czech Republic: https://aeur.eu/f/erc (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)