Inquiry into 'forced' sterilisation of gypsies

A special investigation has begun into claims that more than 100 gypsy women in Slovakia were sterilised against their will.

Experts at a university in Bratislava have been asked to to decide whether sterilisations were necessary on medical grounds in certain cases, said Stanislav Ryban, spokesman for the team of four investigators.

An inquiry with one investigator was launched after a report in January claimed about 110 gypsies had been sterilised against their will in eastern Slovakia since 1989.

The Centre for Reproductive Rights in New York, and the Centre for Civil and Human Rights, which has an office in Kosice, based their report on interviews with women in 40 gypsy settlements in eastern Slovakia, doctors and officials.

Some women claimed they had been forced to sign a document approving sterilisation while under anaesthetic.

Two gypsy women have laid charges against doctors in Krompachy, and Jana Kviecinska, head of the government's human rights department, has complained to police. The doctors deny the allegations.