The authorities prohibited them from having children, under the pretext of fighting poverty
Victims of forced sterilization in Peru fight for justice
Women victims organize a demonstration against the government.
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The government of former President Alberto Fujimori was involved in these crimes.
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Victims demanding justice.
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Hundreds of thousands of indigenous women and men in Peru were subjected to forced sterilizations in the 1990s.
Since then, victims, their families, and activists have been fighting for redress, and there appears to be progress on this.
According to estimates, between 1996 and 2000, more than 300,000 women and about 22,000 indigenous men in Peru were subjected to forced sterilization.
In most cases, the operation was performed without anesthesia or post-operative care.
Allegedly reducing poverty
This is exemplified by the massive initiative, which was implemented by the government of then President Alberto Fujimori over a period of four years, known as the National Program for Reproductive Health and Family Planning, with the purported aim of reducing poverty.
The International Criminal Court has condemned these measures as crimes against humanity, but the Peruvian justice system has been slow to investigate the case and prosecute those responsible.
Late confession
It took 20 years before the Peruvian government recognized the fact that victims had a right to compensation.
There are now compensation plans that are part of a broader deal aimed at addressing the massive and widespread human rights violations that occurred in Peru during the country's internal armed conflict between 1980 and 2000, between government and rebel forces affiliated with the Shining Path and Tupac Amaru movement. Revolutionary.
The forced sterilization program focused on women of childbearing age, most of whom were either from poor rural villages in the Andean highlands or disenfranchised indigenous peoples, some of whom had never had children before.
Mamerita Mestanza Chavez, who was 33 years old at the time, is one such case.
She faced intense pressure from 1996 to 1998 to have an operation.
She received no medical assistance before or after the operation, and was seriously injured and later died as a result.
Several human rights groups petitioned her case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 1999.
Impunity
However, Peruvian prosecutors stopped the investigations several times, leading to protests by human rights organizations and the Peruvian people.
Her case is now being looked at again, but no one has yet been charged with wrongdoing.
Women's and human rights organizations continue to struggle against impunity, which has been going on for more than a decade.
Survivors of forced sterilizations and relatives of victims continue to demand justice and reparations.
The Peruvian lawyer and director of the "Demos" organization for women's rights, Maria Isabel Sedano, says that the new rules put in place by the State of Peru recognize sexual violence in all its forms, including forced sterilization without the person's consent.
She described the move as important in recognizing the rights of the victims, but criticized what it considered "ups and downs".
An important experience
Rossio Silva Santestepan, a congressman representing the left-leaning Amplio Front, criticized the fact that former President Fujimori's party, which had had a majority in Congress for the past 15 years, has failed to this day to recognize such an internal conflict in Peru.
The former president, who served between 1990 and 2000, is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence for corruption and human rights violations.
His role in the country's forced sterilization program will now also be raised.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled to begin on March 1, when prosecutors will file cases against Fujimori and former senior healthcare officials.
About 1,700 people filed a lawsuit against the Peruvian government in this regard.
Waiting for justice
For Maria Jesabel Sedano, compensation from the victims means that the state finally bears responsibility for what it has done.
She says she controlled women's bodies under the pretext of fighting poverty.
She says that some young women were given sleeping pills while visiting gynecologists, and sterilized while they slept without their knowledge or consent.
It took 20 years before the Peruvian government recognized the fact that victims had a right to compensation.
The forced sterilization program focused on women of childbearing age, most of whom were either from impoverished rural villages in the Andean highlands or disenfranchised indigenous peoples, some of whom had never had children before.
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