Agnes Gereb, Hungarian Midwife imprisoned

There's a signature petition site: http://www.peticionpublica.es/?pi=P2010N3869

This is a letter from Hungarian support group:

Dear Midwifery Organistion,

I am writing on behalf of the campaign group here in Hungary supporting the release of the midwife Dr, Agnes Gereb and seeking the introduction of legislation to allow midwives perform out of hospital births legally. The implementation of this legislation would also give practical effect to the constitutional right of a Hungarian mother to choose to birth at home, a right that she is currently denied and deprived, as it is still illegal for any midwife to provide her professional service in an out of hospital situation.

One of the key observations that we must make through this letter to all professional midwife organisation is the alarming fact that despite protests from international government organisations, homebirth groups, human rights and women's rights groups, non-governmental groups, politicians, media, and civil society generally, the voice of the midwifery community internationally has been remarkably and shockingly silent. Shocking, not least because at the very basis level this is a woman giving service to women in her community and she is blatantly being abused and unjustly punished for standing up for the rights of Hungarian women. And still your organisations have been deafening in your silence. Hence, the need for this letter. My enquiries have led to two issues that may have been hampering your organisation from finding its rightful voice of protest and condemnation for the manner in which Agnes Gereb has been arrested, imprisoned and mistreated while there. The first is the "confusion " as to where the Hungarian Midwives Association (HMA) stand in all of this and the second concerns whether Agnes Gereb is or is not a midwife.

With regard to the HMA position I am attaching an English translation of a statement issued by the Presidents of the HMA on October 18th, , and while it is clear that the respective Hungarian hosptital midwife and independent midwife organisations need to work better together on areas of mutual interest and benefit, it is also clear that the HMA are very unhappy with the mistreatment of Agnes Gereb by the Hungarian Authorities. The following extract from their statement relays their serious concerns in this regard "The Association of Hungarian Midwives does not agree with the severe conditions under which Dr. Ágnes Geréb is held. It is inexplicable that as a non-dangerous criminal why she has to wear leg shackles, handcuffs and shackles around her waist. It might only serve one goal: to humiliate her and to break her in – it is not to prevent her from escape or the re-enactment of a criminal deed".

On the matter of the 2nd point, relating to Agnes Gereb's status as a midwife let me refer to the 2nd attached document, issued this month, which is from the Federation of Independent Midwives in Hungary. This is a document that covers a range of good points but specific to the question of Agnes Gereb's midwifery status let me extract the following "In addition to her general medical degree and her specialist qualifications as an obstetrician-gynaecologist and a psychologist, Ágnes Geréb is also not only qualified as a Hungarian nurse-midwife (this is the formal title of all Hungarian hospital midwives) but additionally she holds a higher educational diploma in midwifery as well. To date, the latter qualification has only been achieved by some 35 hospital nurse-midwives in all of Hungary". I have also attached a 3rd document which is relevant to this point and it is Agnes Gereb's C.V. which confirms all of her educational qualifications. So, what is clearly not in dispute is that Agnes Gereb is fully qualified to be registered and to work as a midwife in the Hungarian hospital system.

However, Agnes is not registered as a midwife as the Hungarian authorities will not allow ANY midwife (hospital or independent) to provide professional services in the home or in out of hospital circumstances. And, after 22 years of serving the needs of parents who wish to homebirth, it is hardly surprising that Agnes Gereb would be entirely unwilling to seek registration into a professional group whose very rules would demand of her not provide homebirth services. For anyone in your organisation who wishes to get fixated on the point that she is "not registered" let me additionally include the opinion our international legal experts working on the Agnes Gereb case, in the context of European Law violations, who make the following important point "Agnes Gereb has not been allowed to register as a midwife because she helps women give birth at home. This is a violation of her European law rights under the European Directive 2005/36/EC which establishes uniform qualifications for midwives across Europe. If a midwife achieves that minimum standard she must be allowed to register and practice anywhere in the EU. Agnes has achieved this standard and the fact that she wants to attend home births should not be allowed to frustrate her rights under EU law".
I hope, therefore, that the clarifications I have offered to the two obstacles which were apparently in the way of professional midwife organisations can now be thrown aside and that your organisations can find the the moral outrage and voice that your members should surely wish to raise loud and powerfully towards the Hungarian government and the relevant ministries here. To that end I am including a 4th attachment which outlines the key changes that our campaign is trying to achieve in respect of Agnes Gereb and of midwives and women in Hungary. Additionally, this attachment identifies the key political Hungarian Ministers who need to be targetted and it also provides their contact details. However, I would respectfully ask that each national organisation would also formally write to the Hungarian Ambassador in your country to insist that s/he convey the concerns of your organisation and of your members back to the Hungarian government.

Finally, in case anyone in your organisation is still unclear as to how badly Agnes Gereb has been treated since her imprisonment (now in her 37th day)(with a minimum of 56 still to go) let me cite the following:

"After the 72 hours in detention, she was taken before a closed criminal court and charged with "reckless endangerment committed in the line of duty" and remanded in custody without bail for a further 30 days. It took 28 days before Agnes was allowed to see just 2 members of her family (her mother and eldest son) for one hour (Agnes has four children). She has been subject to strip searches after visits from her lawyer, is confined to her cell 23 hours a day, has been refused access to the library and medicines, is permitted 10 minutes of phone call time weekly. When Agnes subsequently appeared before a public court, for separate criminal charges related to other birth cases, she was chained to a policeman, handcuffed and leg shackled so tightly that she had a 10cm bleeding wound on her leg. Agnes has also been denied the visitation rights of Parliamentary Deputies.
(Please also read attachment 5 for a full legal and background overview of all matters related to Agnes Gereb and to the criminalisation of midwives in their services to homebirth mothers).

I will leave the last words, perhaps appropriately, to the voices of the Federation of Independent Midwives of Hungary who call on you to "use every viable means to aid and support us in our endeavour to obtain the release of Ágnes Geréb, our fellow midwife, friend and midwifery teacher as soon as possible. Please show your support for Ágnes Geréb on your websites, in your domestic press and in the international community of midwives and lend publicity to the fact that with a track record of over 3500 healthy home births she remains and is internationally recognised as one of the most experienced midwives in the world".

Thanking you in advance for your positive response and support.

Sincerely yours

Donal Kerry
International Spokesperson
Freebirth Support Group

Email: Freebirth.hu
Website: freegereb.org

November, 13th, 2010