The Slovak government formally apologized on Wednesday for decades of forced sterilization of women belonging to the Roma community.
The ruling coalition issued a statement condemning the human rights violations and apologizing to those affected, the public news agency TASR reported.
The exact number of women who were sterilized is not known - only estimates can be made - but it is estimated that several thousand women were affected, according to Andrea Boutskova, the government's commissioner for Roma minority affairs, on her official website.
According to the government, forced sterilizations were carried out from 1966 to 1989 to reduce the minority population. But even after the fall of so-called existing socialism, the government admits that between 1990 and 2004 it was illegal for clinics and maternity hospitals to pressure minorities to consent to sterilization after having children.
Human rights groups and the Council of Europe have for years demanded that Bratislava acknowledge the systematic human rights abuses committed against members of the Roma minority and offer compensation.
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovi. Welcomed the Slovak government's public apology, which she tweeted was an important first step. However, he urged Slovakia to set up a faster mechanism for compensating victims.