News and Topical issue. During communist Czechoslovakia the illegal sterilization of women, mainly those belonging to the Roma ethnic group, was a common practice in Slovak hospitals; unfortunatelly it continued well into the 1990s and even afterwards and many women who fell victims to this practice struggled to get compensation in Slovak courts with some of them winning their cases at the European Court for Human Rights. In mid-July the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic warned again Slovakia that it still lacks a mechanism of compensation for the victims of illegal sterilization. Will Slovak authorities finally set up one? How the city of Košice gets ready for Pope Francisc's visit.