The article in the daily predominantly economic newspaper in Slovakia continued by saying that “if they deliver, they do it directly in the hovel, hardly ever in hospitals. If a new-born baby vanishes without any trace, in fact, he or she did not vanish at all. If the parents give the baby for adoption for money, no one can convict them of child trafficking, and if the baby dies, in fact, he or she does not die at all as the baby has officially never existed anyway.”

In the style of the worst inflammatory journalism, Hospodarske Noviny, issued by Ecopress, a member of the German Handelsblatt group goes on saying: “The pregnant prostitutes are the most sought-after priestesses of love. The higher the stage of pregnancy, the higher price for the provided sexual service. Pregnant Michaela from a hovel from Vlcie hrdlo is near her delivery. But her price among the truck drivers is incredibly growing, and so she continues to provide sexual services despite the fact that she can deliver any minute.”

“Perhaps, the child in her belly is really already dead. Michaela will not understand that until it starts to decay within her body.”

In the second week of July, when they found out about the article, Odyseus, SWAN members from Slovakia, contacted Prima, the only other NGO besides Odyseus involved with sex workers outreach (distribution of condoms and syringes), only to find out that no employee of Prima gave any statements to the writer of the article or to any other reporter from Hospodarske Noviny.

Odyseus, Prima and another NGO wrote a letter to the editor pointing to lack of facts, misleading claims, poor journalism, ethical issues and use of derogatory terms.

Another letter was written by the SWAN Secretariat in the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union.
Several letters were sent by other SWAN members.

No part of any of the letters was published in Hospodarske Noviny, nor its editor-in-chief or report author thought that they made any mistake and need to apologize.

The case got no publicity in any other Slovakian media.
The translation of the article is available here.
The article in Slovakian is available here. The English translation of the Odyseus letter is available here.

We hereby appeal to human rights prictitioners, sex workers rights advocates, sex workers, friends and family, to send a letter of protest to the Editor in Chief of Hospodarske Noviny, Mr. Tomáš Kurtanský on tomas.kurtansky@hnonline.sk :

Mr. Tomáš Kurtanský,
Editor-in-chief of Hospodárske Noviny,
Bratislava, Slovakia

Dear Mr Kurtanský,
We would like to protest the inflammatory language, poor and unethical journalism that compares people with animals, lack of facts and misleading sources that were all present in the article Non-Existing Children, published in the otherwise respected daily Hospodarske Noviny whose Editor-in-Chief you are.
We find this article an example of biased, unethical journalism, contrary to the high standards of journalistic profession.
We find it against the principles that are followed in the reporting of Hospodarske Noviny and its owner, the Handelsblatt Group.
Such piece is not acceptable for a prominent daily in Slovakia, an EU-Member state.
We call for resignation of the author and an immediate apology to the Hospodarske Noviny readers by the Editor-in-Chief.

Yours sincerely (put your name, title, and name of the organization you work for)

Other option:
Write to the Slovakian Press Council (INEKO, www.ineko.sk ), Director Mr. Gabriel Sipos: sipos@ineko.sk