Monitoring Report on Violations of the Human Rights of Women in the Provision of Childbirth Care in Healthcare Facilities in Slovakia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Editor: Janka Debrecéniová

Authors: Janka Debrecéniová – Miroslava Kotríková Rašmanová – Lýdia Marošiová
 
The publication CHILDBIRTH – RIGHTS – PANDEMIC (published in Slovak in April 2021) presents the results of monitoring designed to identify and describe violations of the human rights of women in the provision of antenatal and childbirth care in healthcare facilities in Slovakia during the period between early March 2020 and the end of June 2020 (a period often referred to as the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic). The monitoring was carried out using several methods, the primary source of information being an internet survey among women about their experience with the provision of healthcare before, during and after childbirth during the said period. An English version of the publication will be published before the end of this year. Continue reading →

CDA/ODZ + ŽK, 20. 5. 2019

Here below, find the Joint submission to the Special Rapporteur on violence against women by our NGO Občan, demokracia a zodpovednosť (Citizen, Democracy and Accountability) and Ženské kruhy (Women’s Circles), May 2019:

Občan, demokracia a zodpovednosť (Citizen, Democracy and Accountability – CDA) and Ženské kruhy (Women’s Circles) present this submission to the Special Rapporteur on violence against women for its consideration in the context of Mistreatment and violence against women during reproductive health care with a focus on childbirth.

CDA (www.odz.sk) is an independent civic association that promotes the values of open society based on civic responsibility and the accountability of public authorities. One of CDA’s primary aims is to assert everyone’s rights to human dignity and to protection from discrimination, as well as to assert the human rights of women. Women’s circles (www.zenskekruhy.sk) is an independent civic association focusing on the field of maternity care and the rights therein. One of the goals is that respect, dignity and the freedom of choice for women in pregnancy and childbirth would become self-evident. Continue reading →

CDA/ODZ, 8. 2. 2018

Women – Mothers – Bodies II: Systemic Aspects of Violations of Women’s Human Rights in Birth Care Provided in Healthcare Facilities in Slovakia is a second publication jointly released by Slovak NGOs Občan, demokracia a zodpovednosť (Citizen, Democracy and Accountability) and Ženské kruhy (Women’s Circles) as a result of their long-term cooperation. The book is a sequel to Women – Mothers – Bodies: Women’s Human Rights in Obstetric Care in Healthcare Facilities in Slovakia that gave pilot insights into the violations of women’s human rights in Slovak birthing facilities from the perspective of women as rights holders. Continue reading →

CDA/ODZ, 29. 4. 2015

Editor: Janka Debrecéniová

Authors: Kristína Babiaková, Janka Debrecéniová, Miroslava Hlinčíková, Zuzana Krišková, Martina Sekulová, Sylvia Šumšalová

Publisher: Občan, demokracia a zodpovednosť, Bratislava, April 2015

 
The publication is the first one to discuss obstetric care in the Slovak Republic from the perspective of women’s human rights. Besides filling the gap in knowledge of problems women face in relation to childbirth, it is also innovative in terms of research methodology. It summarises the results of more than two years of intensive efforts of our organisation in cooperation with NGO Women’s Circles that promote the human rights of women in Slovakia, which carried out a pilot study and monitoring. In collecting and processing the various data, an inter-disciplinary team of experts combined standard methods of social scientific research with methods used in human rights monitoring, one of them being the Free Access to Information Act mandating public authorities and maternity wards to provide information. Authors of the publication managed to offer many key perspectives currently missing in obstetric care in Slovakia, including both the authentic experiences of women, and a women’s human rights perspective, among others. Continue reading →

Authors:
Christina Zampas, Roseanne Kross, Adriana Lamačková, Janka Debrecéniová

Published by: Center for Reproductive Rights (New York), Možnosť voľby, Citizen, Democracy and Accountability, Bratislava, March 2011
 
This analytical report describes and analyses legal, political and social factors that create barriers to access by women and adolescent girls to modern contraceptives. The report is based on in-depth interviews with 29 women of reproductive age with various social and economic backgrounds from Prešov and Košice districts, and with 39 experts in this field, including representatives of non-governmental organisations working with women. The report builds on an analysis of national and international law and policies, as well as on published materials concerning contraceptives. Continue reading →