 
|
Truth to power, In an ongoing struggle for human rights, encouraging signs of empowerment 4. 8. 2008
July 30th, 2008
By Gwendolyn Albert Anita Danka/European Roma Rights Centre
For the past four years, I have been involved in helping the survivors of coercive
sterilization in the Czech Republic in their struggle to win government redress for
the harms they suffered, and prevent such violations from ever occurring in Czech
hospitals again. Together with local and international NGOs, women from the Roma
community in Ostrava in particular have persevered in this quest, despite minimal
resources and support. Their one ally is the Czech public defender of rights (the
ombudsman), whose recommendations made in 2005 remain unimplemented by the
government, despite calls by the government's own advisory bodies to acknowledge
responsibility for the violations, apologize to the victims and provide
compensation.
A few weeks ago, I found myself in a hotel in Vienna after a week of activism at a
large women's rights conference in Madrid. Together with some of the Ostrava
survivors and staff of the European Roma Rights Centre, I had been collecting
signatures on postcards calling for the Czech, Hungarian and Slovak governments to
redress these violations. Curious to see the news, I turned on CNN — and almost fell
over with surprise. A promo spot announced that the documentary Trial of a Child
Denied, about the coercive sterilizations in the Czech Republic, would be airing as
part of the network's "World's Untold Stories" series. Having been closely involved
in assisting the producers of this film, I was overjoyed to see their work reaching
the world.
But, for me, the most important development of the past four years has been the
changes I've observed in the women themselves. Despite some rough patches — such as
hostile reporting in the local press after they demonstrated outside an Ostrava
hospital in 2006 — these women have overcome the stigma that anyone would feel
discussing such intimate details of their lives. At a recent meeting with Roma women
from Slovakia who were subjected to the same abuses, the coercive sterilization
survivors from Ostrava spoke passionately about the need to somehow reach the public
through the media, not just to exchange their experiences privately. Even after four
years of near-silence from the government, and even though they are aware that the
vast majority of them will never see their day in court, they remain fired up and
eager for justice.
No one personifies this transformation quite so clearly as Elena Gorolova, who was
sterilized without her informed consent in 1990, during the course of her second
Caesarian section delivery. While she was in the throes of labor in the birthing
room, in enormous pain and under the influence of sedatives, doctors gave her a
piece of paper and told her, "Sign this or you will die." Trusting them, she signed
without even reading the document — as she later said, "At that moment, I would have
signed my own death warrant."
The "consent" obtained from Elena under these circumstances is typical of the
post-communist complaints registered with the ombudsman. She did not choose to be
sterilized — the doctors chose for her.
Four years ago, when I first reported on these violations with Elena at the United
Nations in New York City, it was her first-ever airplane trip. So we arranged for
another woman offering testimony to accompany her, and show her the ropes of plane
travel. This summer, for our trip to Madrid, Elena not only flew from Ostrava on her
own, but was the one offering support to another first-time flier. She's also
learned to use the Internet, e-mail and Skype. The experiences of speaking in public
and interacting with journalists have strengthened not only Elena's self-confidence
but that of her fellow survivors, as the Trial documentary so beautifully depicts.
Elena has also recently been appointed a civil society member of the Government
Council for Roma Community Affairs, an advisory body to the Czech government on Roma
issues.
Only a truly strong individual could have withstood the recent experience of an
online interview with readers of the Czech news server iDNES.cz, which Elena agreed
to do while we were in Madrid. The chat participants, some signing themselves as
"Doctor," accused Elena and her fellow victims of various underhanded motives,
primarily a desire to "get rich quick" — a laughable charge to anyone familiar with
the delays of the Czech legal system, and the traditionally low amounts of
compensation awarded even in exceptional cases.
The questioners seemed to have a hard time grasping that the throes of labor are not
the right time to ask a woman whether she wants to be sterilized. They tried to
explain to Elena that the "real problem" was her husband's desire to have more
children, not the doctor's sterilizing her without her informed consent. They
implied that having children was just a ploy for receiving social support. They
asked whether she smokes, what grades she got in grammar school and why she doesn't
just adopt. They asked her why the Roma abuse welfare, why they throw it away on
gambling, drugs and alcohol — racist questions that have nothing to do with human
rights abuses.
As was her prerogative, she did not respond to the more ignorant questions. She
answered the ones she thought worthwhile, repeating her intensely personal story for
what must be the 1,000th time in an effort to make people realize what not only she,
but many others, have been through. I find her stamina simply incredible.
The Czech government will take over the EU presidency in the first half of 2009,
followed by Sweden. Ten years ago, that country decided to do what the Czech
Republic has not yet done: acknowledge that the sterilization program it ran from
the early 1930s through the 1970s led to human rights abuses, and compensate the
victims of this practice. As far as I know, the recognition of this truth has not
cost the Swedish government anything in terms of international prestige — indeed, it
has raised the country's standing among advocates for human rights and justice.
Thanks to the efforts of everyone who has worked on the issue of coercive
sterilization in this country since the late 1970s, the Czech government now has a
tremendous opportunity to join the ranks of those countries capable of such
self-reflection and atonement. The question is whether Czech leaders are
compassionate enough to do so.
— The author is the Director of the Women's Initiatives Network of the Peacework
Development Fund.
|
|
Recent articles
|
Radio
Rota 
AROIE
redakční systém Saluki