Forced sterilisation of persons with disabilities is a pervasive abuse and a gross violation of their fundamental rights. Nevertheless, it is ongoing and widespread across Europe and worldwide.
The capacity of people with disabilities to have children is often forcibly removed, often behind closed doors, often with the consent of the State. People with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, especially those under guardianship measures, are among the most at risk of being sterilised without their consent. Women and girls with disabilities, and all those that can carry pregnancies, are overwhelmingly targeted.
This report aims to shed light on this gross human rights violation and demands that this practice be banned throughout Europe, and worldwide.
Read the complete report
- Report on forced sterilisation in the EU – 2022 (Accesible PDF document – Updated October 2022)
- Report on forced sterilisation in the EU – 2022 (Easy to Read Version)
- Sterilizzazione forzata delle persone con disabilità nell’Unione Europea (Word document – Italian version)
Executive summary in Sign Language. Watch the video below
Transcription:
Forced sterilisation is a gross violation of fundamental rights. Moreover, it is a harmful practice and example of gender-based violence that is still inflicted mainly on people with disabilities, Roma and intersex people across Europe.
It is prohibited under numerous international texts: the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, among others. Nevertheless, it is still allowed by law in several EU Member States.
As of August 2022, we found that:
- Only 9 EU Member States explicitly criminalise forced sterilisation as a distinct offence in their criminal code1.
- At least 13 EU Member States still allow some forms of forced sterilisation in their legislation: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal and Slovakia2. They authorise either a guardian, a legal representative, an administrator or a doctor to consent to thesterilisation of a person with disabilities on their behalf.
- 3 Member States authorise the forced sterilisation of minors: Czechia, Hungary and Portugal.
- In at least 3 EU Member States the use of contraception or sterilisation can be a requirement for admission to residential institutions: Belgium, France and Hungary.
Although not always explicitly named as such, the widespread practice of sterilising a person without their free, prior and informed consent and/or knowledge is forced sterilisation.
Please note that the information for Austria has been updated. There is no legal possibility in the country to authorise forced sterilisation against a person’s will. Therefore from the initial list, there are at least 13 EU countries that still authorise forced sterilisation.