This did not happen in some past century or one of those countries that Western media loves to portrait as “genocidal”. Oh no. This happened right here in the European Union, a mere ten years ago and today, the European Human Rights court in Strasbourg issued a verdict. via Sterilised Roma woman wins human rights appeal @ HUMANERIGHTSEUROPE:
Judges today ordered Slovakia to pay €43,000 in damages, costs and expenses after finding that the sterilisation of 20-year old Roma woman in a public hospital without her informed consent violated her human rights.[…]
The applicant, V.C., is a Slovakian national of Roma ethnic origin. She was born in 1980 and lives in Jarovnice (Slovakia). On 23 August 2000 she was sterilised at the Hospital and Health Care Centre in Prešov (eastern Slovakia) – under the management of the Ministry of Health – during the delivery of her second child via Caesarean section. The sterilisation entailed tubal ligation, which consists of severing and sealing the Fallopian tubes in order to prevent fertilisation.
The applicant alleged that, in the last stages of labour, she was asked whether she wanted to have more children and told that, if she did have any more, either she or the baby would die. She submits that, in pain and scared, she signed the sterilisation consent form but that, at the time, she did not understand what sterilisation meant, the nature and consequences of the procedure, and in particular its irreversibility. She was not informed of any alternative methods. Her signature next to the typed words “Patient requests sterilisation” is shaky and her maiden name split into two words. She also claims that her Roma ethnicity – clearly stated in her medical record – played a decisive role in her sterilisation.
Also, I am shocked by the pitiful compensation she got. Of course, no amount of money can objectively repair what effectively amounts to ethnic cleansing. However, 43k is a pretty moderate European yearly salary and certainly not nearly enough to fully indemnify this woman.
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