Lawmakers extend deadline for victims of forced sterilizations to seek compensation

Women who were unlawfully sterilized in the former Czechoslovakia have been given more time to seek compensation. Lawmakers have extended the deadline for filing claims for a one-time payment of 300,000 crowns by two years. The change follows a court ruling that allows women who were previously denied compensation to reapply. Judges also decided that testimony from family members can be accepted as evidence, to help victims who often lack complete medical records.

Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of predominantly Roma women were sterilized without their consent in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s. Human rights groups believe the practice continued in some areas even after the fall of communism in 1989. In 2009, the Czech government adopted a resolution expressing regret over the policy.

So far, fewer than 1,000 of the 2,388 applications submitted for compensation have been approved. The scheme covers women forcibly sterilized between June 1966 and March 2012.