Item DVD001
DVD 13 minutes 48 seconds
Price: $10.00
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Body and Soul, the new documentary produced by the Center for Reproductive Rights and made by Sandino Film, captures the testimonies of Romani women in Slovakia who have been sterilized against their will, and the attitudes of Slovakian health care personnel on this and related issues. This documentary supplements the Center's and Poradna's human rights report Body and Soul: Forced Sterilization and Other Assaults on Roma Reproductive Freedom in Slovakia, which was launched in Bratislava in January 2003.

The report was the result of fact-finding missions undertaken in Eastern Slovakia in 2002, and it documents human rights violations including forced and coerced sterilization against Romani women in Slovakia. Shortly after the report's release, the Slovak government launched a criminal investigation into the practice of forced and coerced sterilization in Eastern Slovakia. The government concluded its criminal investigation in October 2003 and found that no criminal act had been committed. However, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe issued a report in late October which confirmed our findings and held the government of Slovakia responsible for failing to ensure that no sterilizations were performed without free and informed consent. Furthermore, Amnesty International and the U.S. Congressional Helsinki Commission also found the government's investigation to be inadequate and called on the Slovak government for a proper investigation.

VIEW ONLINE! View a web version (wmv file 13 minutes 48 seconds) of Body and Soul DVD based on our report in Slovakia on the web with interviews of Roma women.