Czech Health Ministry asks Government for CZK 200 million [EUR 8 million] to compensate illegally sterilized women
The Czech Health Ministry is requesting CZK 200 million [EUR 8 million] from the Czech Government so it can pay the compensation owed to illegally sterilized persons. The ministry has awarded compensation to more than 900 such people since 2022, 200 of them this year alone.
As of the end of 2024, when the deadline for filing compensation requests expired, the ministry had paid out more than CZK 210 million [EUR 8.45 million]. According to materials seen by the Czech News Agency (ČTK), the authorities assume the deadline will be extended by two more years.
Anybody illegally sterilized between 1 July 1966 and 31 March 2012 without freely deciding to undergo such surgery and without being informed ahead of time about its impact has been able to receive a one-time sum of CZK 300,000 [EUR 12,000]. Most of those concerned are Romani women.
“Currently the provision of the one-time sums has been awarded to more than 900 applicants and another 570 are waiting for their applications to be processed,” the ministry says in its materials. Compensation has been awarded to about 200 women so far this year.
The Council of Europe, nonprofit organizations, and the ombudsman have appealed for the deadline to be extended. An amendment extending the original timeframe from three years to five was approved by the Chamber of Deputies at the end of April.
Currently the bill is waiting for the Senate to adopt it, after which it should be signed into law by the president. “The Health Ministry therefore presumes in its estimates that at least 1,000 more applications will be successful and the state will be obliged to disburse a total of CZK 300 million [EUR 12 million] through the ministry,” reads the document seen by ČTK.
According to the ministry, any money needed for compensation purposes in 2026 will be addressed later. When the law was adopted, experts estimated roughly 400 women would apply.
According to information received by news server Romea.cz, more than 2,300 applications have been filed so far. Compensation as of 22 April 2025 has been awarded to 889 applicants, 574 applications have been rejected, 283 proceedings have been suspended, and 591 cases still await decision.
In some cases, women have sued in court for recognition of their claims after initially being rejected and the ministry has had to adjust its decision-making practices. Human rights organizations and Romani organizations have repeatedly complained that the ministry has not upheld the legally prescribed timeframe within which applications are to be decided and have also complained that the ministry refused to acknowledge evidence other than original medical records of the surgery.
The Czech Public Defender of Rights (ombudsman) has also criticized the ministry for those same mistakes. The systematic sterilization of women by tubal ligation was introduced in Czechoslovakia through a Health Ministry directive from 1971.
In 1979, the Czechoslovak state made it possible to also financially motivate women to undergo sterilization by tubal ligation. The last reported case of such an illegal sterilization dates to 2007.
Suspicions of forced sterilizations of Romani women in particular were raised in 2004 by the European Roma Rights Centre. Dozens of women then contacted the ombudsman about their cases and some sued in court.
