From 5 to 11 May 2003 EPF brought a delegation of four parliamentarians , from the European Parliament, Ireland, Austria and Spain, to Slovakia to investigate claims of forced and coerced sterilisation among the Roma minority in Eastern Slovakia.

 The MPs (participants) were asked to participate in the field mission to examine the reproductive rights violations set forth in
the report, Body and Soul: Forced Sterilization and Other Assaults on Roma Reproductive Freedom in Slovakia. The report was produced by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Poradna and was released in January 2003. Body and Soul reported violations of Romani women’s human rights, specifically, their reproductive rights in eastern Slovakia and included reports of coerced and forced sterilization; misinformation on reproductive health matters given to Romani women by health care providers, racial segregation in maternity wards, physical and verbal abuse by medical providers and denial of access to medical records. Since the launch of Body and Soul, Slovak authorities have begun a criminal investigation into the findings of forced and coerced sterilization and the Slovak Ministry of Health has also initiated its own investigation which is nvestigating medical aspects of sterilization as well as the other findings of the report, including racial segregation in maternity wards. The Slovak government has also filed criminal charges against the authors of Body and Soul, stating that if the information in the report is found to be true, the authors should be prosecuted for failure to inform law enforcement officials of crimes being committed. The charge also states that if the information is found to be false, the authors should be prosecuted for ‘spreading false rumours and creating panic in society’. The mission was to evaluate the reported violations of reproductive rights and provide recommendations based on their evaluation. The participants visited four settlements, segregated communities.