[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 172 (Thursday, November 10, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7361-S7362]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        EUROPEAN COURT DECISION

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I had the opportunity to visit Slovakia in 
2009. It was a great opportunity for me to meet with representatives of 
a country that is a close ally of the United States. Slovakia and the 
United States share strong ties thanks to the heritage of many 
Americans whose parents, grandparents or great grandparents came from 
Slovakia. We are also bound by our common devotion to democracy and 
human rights. It is an important friendship.
  My visit to Bratislava gave me a chance to strengthen those ties. It 
also provided me with an opportunity to share with my Slovak friends 
concerns I have about the practice of targeting Romani women for 
sterilization without informed consent--a practice that was documented 
and condemned by the Charter 77 human rights movement more than 30 
years ago. Unfortunately, sterilizations without consent continued to 
be performed in State-run hospitals in the Czech and Slovak Republics--
reportedly even in this century.

[[Page S7362]]

  This week there has been an important development on that front. On 
Tuesday, the European Court on Human Rights found that the 
sterilization without informed consent of a Romani woman had violated 
article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the prohibition 
on inhuman or degrading treatment, and article 8, the right to family 
life.
  This is an incredibly important victory for a woman who was 
wrongfully sterilized at the time of the birth of her second child and 
who has since struggled for 11 years to vindicate this claim. I commend 
her for her bravery and tenaciousness in the face of numerous 
obstacles. At the same time, I am aware that the damages awarded by the 
court can never fully compensate for what was taken from her.
  I regret that it has taken so long to achieve this single victory. 
Thus far, the Slovak Government has refused to acknowledge this past 
practice of targeting Romani women for sterilization. In the last 
decade, in the face of growing documentation of this abuse and 
increasing calls for the Slovak Government to acknowledge this grave 
human rights violation, Slovak authorities have, in turns, made threats 
against victims, denied the past abuse, and some voices even continue 
to call for making sterilization freely available to ``socially 
excluded communities''--a term that is almost synonymously used to 
describe Roma.
  There are other countries where sterilization without consent also 
occurred in the last century, including Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and 
33 States in the United States. But Slovakia has been singularly 
resistant to acknowledging that these abuses not only happened, but are 
indefensible by modern standards.
  While I welcome this week's decision by the European court, it does 
not put an end to this issue. There are two other sterilization cases 
pending in Slovakia's domestic courts, and five other cases pending 
against Slovakia before the European court. I urge the Slovak 
Government not to force victims through the painful process of 
litigating each case--a process that has immeasurable costs for all 
sides--and to establish a less burdensome process for victims to have 
their claims recognized. It is long overdue for Slovak authorities to 
acknowledge that Romani women were targeted for sterilization without 
informed consent.

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