Czech lower house has opened the way to extend the compensation process for forced sterilization victims, amendment to public health insurance law is about to enter the final reading

The rider was submitted together by lawmaker Eva Decroix (Civic Democratic Party – ODS) and lawmaker Helena Válková (Association of Dissatisfied Citizens – ANO). Its final adoption should be decided by the Chamber of Deputies within two weeks at the earliest.

The three-year deadline for filing requests for compensation ended on 2 January 2025. However, according to Decroix and Válková, that deadline was “fundamentally inadequate” and led to those requesting compensation being treated unequally.

“Eligibility proceedings are governed by the administrative code and the Health Ministry makes the decisions in those proceedings. However, its practice was not consistent – the decisions made in similar cases varied significantly depending on the time of their issuance,“ reads the explanatory statement on the rider​.

“The requests filed earlier in the process were assessed under conditions which were significantly less favorable to the applicants. For this decision-making to be fair – and to duly fulfill the intention of the lawmakers that at least partial amends will be made for the harm and injustice caused – all of the victims of illegal sterilizations performed against their will must have an opportunity to assert their claims under the exact same terms,” the justification for the rider says.

The proposed rider amends Act No. 297/2021 Coll., on the provision of a lump sum of money to victims of forced sterilization, and extends the deadline for submitting applications from the original three years to five. “In Section 4, paragraph 2 of Act No. 297/2021 Coll., the word ‘three’ is replaced by the word ‘five’,” states the text of the rider.

During the discussion in the Chamber of Deputies, Válková said the change is based not just on the real situation of the compensation procedure, but also on the case law of the Supreme Administrative Court. “It is impossible to rely solely on original medical records, which have been discarded in many cases,” she emphasized, adding that the court confirmed the need to consider other evidence, such as the statements of witnesses who can provide relevant information.

However, that new case law was only handed down towards the end of the original deadline for the process, which made it more difficult for some applicants to assert their claims. “Therefore, it is necessary to extend the period for claiming compensation. It is appropriate to do so without delay, due to the threat of human rights violations happening otherwise, and to send the clear signal that the Czech Republic takes its obligation to compensate the victims of illegal sterilizations seriously,” the justification for the rider states.

According to the Health Ministry, more than 2,300 applications for compensation for forced sterilization were received at the end of last year, of which 762 were approved. “However, given the progress of the implementation of the law, the deadline proved to be fundamentally insufficient,” argue the proponents of the rider.

If the rider passes both the lower house and the Senate, forced sterilization victims will have the opportunity to file requests until the end of 2026. A 1971 Czechoslovak Health Ministry directive regulated the provision of sterilization systemically.

In 1979, the Czechoslovak state made it possible to financially motivate women to undergo sterilization. The last reported case of an unlawful sterilization in the Czech Republic dates from 2007.

In 2004, the European Roma Rights Centre raised suspicions that forced sterilizations of Romani women in particular were still happening in the Czech Republic. Dozens of women then complained to the office of the ombudsman and some sued in court.