At least 110 Romany women were sterilised by the Slovakian state without their consent, according to a human rights report released this week.
The findings are carried in reports issued by the Centre for Reproductive Rights and the Centre for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR) based in Slovakia.
The reports are backed by the European Commissioner for Human Rights but have been strongly denied by the Slovak government which said illegal sterilizations had not occurred.
Recommendations issued by the European Commissioner earlier this week observed that Slovak government's investigation was unlikely to "shed full light on the sterilization practices" due to the intimidating atmosphere created by law enforcement officials who have threatened and intimidated those involved.
The Slovak government's "redress should include compensation and an apology" and also a rapid adoption of a new law requiring free, informed consent for medical procedures, according to the Commissioner for Human Rights.
The EU report calls on the Slovak government to guarantee the basic right of patients to access their medical files, which the Commissioner notes has made it difficult for many Romany women victims to bring cases to court.
The CCHR has called on the government to "cease all efforts to prevent the victims of forced or coerced sterilization from seeking their right to legal redress and enact laws that will put an end to this horrible practice."
Its report also found other significant violations of Romany women's rights such as verbal and physical abuse, segregation in maternity wards and other racially discriminatory standards of care, misinformation in health matters, and denial of patient access to medical records.
The information was collected through interviews with Romany women, non-Romany women, obstetricians, gynecologists, hospital administrators and government officials and took place in eastern Slovakia, in 2002.