The policy of forced sterilizations in Peru during the government of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), of which more than 300,000 women were victims, was a form of violence directed “particularly against indigenous, rural and disadvantaged women” that could be considered a crime against humanity, a UN committee of experts ruled on Wednesday.

“Generalized or systematic forced sterilization could constitute a crime against humanity according to the Rome statute,” said the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which expressed its concern about the law enacted by Peru that prevents the prosecution of this type of serious crimes if they were committed before 2002.

The conclusion of the group of 23 experts (22 women and one man) was adopted after reviewing a complaint filed by five victims forcibly sterilized between 1996 and 1997, as part of the birth policies developed by the Peruvian Government, of which 25,000 men were also victims.

Sterilizations in Peru without the consent of the victims

“The victims described a consistent pattern of coercion, pressure or deception to undergo sterilizations in clinics without adequate infrastructure or trained personnel,” said committee member Leticia Bonifaz.

He added that the procedures were carried out without the consent of the victims, some of them unable to fully understand the nature of the operations.

Advertisement

20250301_vacunacion_vph-728x90

20241211_mh_noexigencia_dui_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

domfuturo_netview-728x90

20240604_dom_728x90

CEL

The committee stressed that Peru did not comply with its obligation to properly investigate these violations or to adequately compensate the victims, so it made an urgent appeal to the State to accelerate or expand its investigations, providing financial compensation and psychological support.

Testimonies of those affected

The committee’s decision collected testimonies such as that of a victim from the department of Huánuco, in the north center of the country, who was arrested in the street by medical practitioners in 1996, subsequently sedated and when she woke up she was told that she was “cured” because she could no longer have children.

Immediately after the intervention she had to walk home for two hours, without any postoperative care, and her husband abandoned her when she discovered that the sterilization, the document pointed out, putting this case as an example of the serious consequences on physical and mental health that those campaigns had.

The case was presented in 2020 to the United Nations committee, in charge of ensuring compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ratified by Peru in 2001.

Violent campaign against women

Although there were also male victims of sterilizations, the committee interpreted that this campaign was especially violent with women, due to the different nature of the interventions and the associated surgical risks.

Advertisement

20250301_vacunacion_vph-728x90

20241211_mh_noexigencia_dui_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

domfuturo_netview-728x90

20240604_dom_728x90

CEL

“They were part of a systematic and widespread attack against rural women of peasant or indigenous origin, and the policy resulted in the annulment and replacement of their reproductive autonomy,” Bonifaz denounced.