Czech ombudsman sharply criticizes Health Minister over poor implementation of the compensation process for forcibly sterilized women - the ministry does not communicate, does not meet deadlines, applications are piling up unanswered

“I began more than 60 investigations in cases of women whose applications for compensation failed at the ministry. In half of them, my communications with the ministry became extremely slow during the last year, however. For that reason, I informed the Government that as of January I have received, despite my urging the ministry to respond, absolutely no reaction to my three Final Statements and 14 reports on these investigations, and I am lacking even a first response about the ministry’s approach in another 13 cases,” Křeček summarized.

Last autumn the ombudsman reported that the handling of compensation claims involved delays and other wrongdoing. The ministry promised to correct the situation, but according to the ombudsman, not much has improved. “Applications submitted in April 2023 have yet to be answered. According to the law, a decision has to be made within 60 days at the latest. The ministry is therefore delaying its responses by several months and violating the law,” the ombudsman described.

According to the ombudsman, the ministry is excusing its delays by claiming that there is a large amount of applications and a small number of staffers to handle them, as well as by the fact that the applications have “flaws” and that in ambiguous cases it is necessary to have medical records assessed by experts. The ombudsman disagrees with those arguments, though. “In the documents in the files on these plaintiffs, I have never found that their applications were flawed, or that the ministry considered that their cases were complex from a medical perspective. The ministry has not requested any expert evaluation of the medical documentation in the cases under review,” Křeček said. He also called on the Health Minister to apologize to the women involved for the delay and to arrange for the resolution of the applications from 2023 in as short a timeframe as possible.

The ombudsman is also warning that there are problems with how the ministry is assessing the applications for compensation. In his view, the Health Ministry is persisting with considering medical records to be crucial evidence, despite the fact that the courts have ruled otherwise. Applications from women whose original medical records no longer exist are rejected without being reviewed in detail.

“The compensation law permits other proof, such as testimonies, diary entries and similar documentation. The Supreme Administrative Court confirmed that in July. The court has even established, for the first time, the rules according to which the ministry is to assess these applications in cases where medical records no longer exist,” said lawyer Milena Zmeškalová from the ombudsman’s office.

In addition, the Municipal Court in Prague has repeatedly expressed the view that informed consent to a sterilization is required for it to be considered lawfully performed. The ombudsman has stressed that the ministry, when it decides on these requests for compensation, is still considering the generally-worded consent form for surgery given to a woman in labor immediately before the delivery of her child to be informed consent to sterilization, and by doing so, is breaking the compensation law. “I have ascertained that the ministry, in violation of the law and the courts, considers informed consent to be, for example, the signing of typewritten or pre-printed forms for generally consenting to a surgical procedure which contain no specific information about the course of these operations, or their ramifications, or about the fact that sterilization is irreversible, and very often these forms were signed under the pressure of time immediately before the woman gave birth,” the ombudsman said. Such consent does not meet the terms of a lawful sterilization, according to the Public Defender of Rights.

The ombudsman said that women whose applications have been rejected have the opportunity to apply for compensation once more. The ministry is obligated to review repeat requests, especially with regard to new case law. The ombudsman warned that several such repeat requests have been suspended by the ministry without properly assessing them, and he has called for the applications to be handled both more fairly and more quickly.

“I would welcome it if the ministry’s approaches to these applications and the speed with which it handles them would improve. I recommend both the rejected applicants and those who have yet to apply for compensation to do so as soon as possible. The deadline is 1 January 2025,” the ombudsman reminded the public.

Victims have been able to apply for compensation under the law since 2022. They can do so until the end of this year. Women who underwent such surgery between 1 July 1966 and 31 March 2012 without ever deciding freely to do so and without receiving information about the ramifications of the procedure are able to get a one-time payment of CZK 300,000 [EUR 12,000] from the state should their application be considered eligible.

As of 30 September, the Health Minister has received 1,979 applications for compensation. It has closed 1,389 of them, during which 658 victims of illegal sterilizations have been awarded compensation. The ministry has paid out almost CZK 200 million [EUR 8 million]. Radek Policar, Senior Director for Legislation and Law at the Health Ministry, announced those numbers during a public discussion held on 1 October by the ROMEA organization.

In 2004, the European Roma Rights Centre reported its suspicions that forced sterilizations, primarily of Romani women, were happening in the Czech Republic. Dozens of such women then complained to the ombudsman and some also sued in court. The Czech Government Committee against Torture proposed introducing compensation in 2006. In 2009, the caretaker cabinet of Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer apologized for the illegal surgeries.