The European Roma Rights Centre, Gender Studies, and the League of Human Rights have submitted a Shadow Report on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in the Czech Republic. The report details the shortcomings of the Czech government in complying with its responsibilities under CEDAW and generally protecting the rights of women. Notably, the issues of coercive sterilization and domestic violence have been inadequately addressed by the Czech government. Few measures have been taken to respond to the Ombudsman’s 2005 Report indicating that forced or coerced sterilization took place not only during the Communist era but since 1989. The fact that the victims of this practice are overwhelmingly Romani women, following a pattern of discrimination against them in the Czech Republic, has gone overlooked. Sufficient reparations have not been made to victims and the government has yet to explicitly ban the practice through legislation. The problem of domestic violence, while prohibited by law, is aggravated by poorly trained police and medical officials as well as a lack of services for victims.
The report also calls attention to the inability of government policy to adequately respond to discrimination, prioritize gender equality, and address damaging stereotypes. These issues are handled almost exclusively by NGOs. Further, though female participation in public life is extremely low, little action has been taken on the part of the government to address this discrepancy.
Compiled from: Shadow Report to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women for the Czech Republic, European Roma Rights Centre, Gender Studies, and the League of Human Rights, June 2006.