Zita, 23, an illiterate Romany woman from a shanty town outside Presov, gave birth in early 1998 by Caesarean section to her second child, a daughter. Still groggy, she was presented with a piece of paper to sign by a nurse.

“They gave me a paper to sign, but I don’t know what it said because I cannot read or write. I was in pain after the operation,” she said. “My signature is three crosses and I signed with that. After the operation, a nurse came and explained that I will not have any more children. I felt very bad. I started to cry.”

Zita’s case is typical of a policy of coercive sterilisation of Romany women in Slovakia, according to investigators from the Centre for Reproductive Rights, the New York-based human rights group.

The centre’s report, based on a three-month investigation, found about 110 cases of coerced or forced sterilisation in Slovakia, which is to join the EU next year. Sterilisation of Roma was official policy under the communists and dates from the Nazi era. Even now, Romany women’s hospital files are stamped with an “R”. Many Romany women are vulnerable, poorly educated and with no concept of their legal rights. Zita’s husband, Krystian, said: “I know 100 per cent that she has been sterilised. I lived with her for eight years and now, five years after that operation, she cannot have children. They think the Roma are devils and they can do what they want with us.”

Like Zita, Maria can no longer conceive. Maria, 29, who is also illiterate, has seven children, which is not uncommon in Romany families.

Before giving birth in early 1998 by Caesarean section, she, too, was handed a form to sign. “They put a pen in my hand, took my hand and helped me to sign the paper,” she said. “They didn’t tell me what I signed. I had an operation, but I don’t know exactly what it was. Now I have found out that I cannot have children. I started to ask what was going on, but I do not speak Slovak very well and I don’t know how to ask a Slovak doctor what has happened to me.”

Medical records held by Barbora Bukovska, a Prague lawyer working on many of the cases, confirm that Maria was sterilised at 24. Ms Bukovska said: “Roma are being sterilised against their will, and without their consent. This is a violation of their rights.”

Marian Kisely, the head of obstetrics at Presov hospital, denied the charges. “We have never sterilised a Romany woman against her will,” she said. “It is always done for medical reasons and with the agreement of the patient. There were cases when we had to perform an emergency hysterectomy because the mother’s life was in danger.”

Many Romany babies are abandoned by their mothers soon after birth, hospital officials say. In the ward for newborns there are 11 five-day-old Romany babies. But only one mother has remained in hospital. Some of the babies’ mothers may return, but others leave for good.

In the rolling hills around Presov there is de facto apartheid between Roma and their neighbours. Slovak villages are clean and tidy, with roads cleared of snow, and comfortable houses. Roma are confined to draughty hovels of wood and earth in the outskirts.

Local councils refuse to provide running water, install sewerage systems or even collect rubbish. Barely clothed children scamper through mud and ice, and dogs nose around household waste. Councils refuse to register Roma as residents, thus preventing them from voting in local elections. There is even a separate wooden church.

A recent United Nations report on the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, found that integrating Roma into society was a long-term issue, necessitating a total overhaul of policies.

In this remote corner of Eastern Europe old prejudices thrive. Fearful of visits from vengeful officials and police, Romany women would talk to The Times only if their surnames and the names of their villages were not published.

The Government’s response shows that the mentality of Moscow, not Brussels, flourishes. Peter Miklosi, an official, said: “The police should find out whether any such case happened and, if so, prosecute the offenders. If allegations prove false, those who have spread them might be prosecuted for spreading false alarm.”

Romany human rights activists say that they have been harassed by the Slovak secret service and called into police stations for questioning.

There have also been threats that the activists themselves will be prosecuted for failing to report a crime, that is, the sterilisations, on time to the police. Edmund Muller, of the Roma Rights Centre, said: “It is time for us to fight for our rights. They say we are damaging the image of Slovakia, but this is rubbish. We are fighting for a better Slovakia.”

Past and Present

The two tribes of Gypsies — Romanies and the Sinti people — migrated to Europe from the Punjab between the 8th and the 12th centuries. Outside Spain, with a Romany population of up to half a million, the biggest communities are in Eastern Europe, the world population being about 12 million. More than half a million Gypsies were murdered by the Nazis.

Explore World News

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Divided Kirkuk faces up to curse of oil
• Revenge killer hailed hero joins Ossetian war
• The perfect way to swat a fly: stay one jump ahead