Czech Finance Minister Alena Schillerová (ANO) met last week at the ministry in Prague with non-Romani and Romani women who have been unlawfully sterilized and who have been fighting for compensation for many years. During the meeting, the women shared stories of what was done to them to underscore the importance of the bill to compensate victims of illegal sterilizations that has been in the lower house for almost one year and has yet to undergo a first reading.
News server Romea.cz has been informed that the Finance Minister promised the women she would support the bill to compensate those who have been illegally sterilized. Elena Gorolová, the spokesperson for the group of unlawfully sterilized women, told news server Romea.cz that she welcomed the minister's accommodating approach to adoption of the bill; Gorolová works for the Ostrava-based organization Life Together (Vzájemné soužití).
"The minister listened to us all and also took an interest in why we had not gone to court about what happened to us years ago. [Czech Deputy Public Defender of Rights] Monika Šimůnková explained that the women had been ashamed of what happened to them and didn't want to speak about it publicly," Gorolová told Romea.cz, adding that the five non-Romani and Romani women sterilized without their free and informed choice and consent also met with several lower house lawmakers who listened to what they had to say and expressed support for their compensation.
