Peru Fails to Deliver for Indigenous Women

Under Fujimori, thousands of indigenous women and men were sterilized against their will. Today, activists and organizations keep on fighting for it to be considered a crime against humanity. Español

"A nurse put me on a stretcher and tied my hands and feet," said Sabina Huillca. "I asked them to bring me my little baby girl but instead they anesthetized me. When I woke up, the doctor was stitching my stomach. I started screaming, I knew I had been sterilized."

In Peru, during the presidency of Alberto Fujimori, 272,000 women and 22,004 men were sterilized between 1996 and 2000 as part of the National Reproductive Health and Family Planning Program. Most of the men and women were indigenous, poor, and living in rural areas. The program's alleged aim was to eradicate poverty through lower birth rates, but evidence has emerged over the years that it was coercive and blatantly violated reproductive rights.

Over 2,000 women have testified that medical practitioners performed the procedures against their will. In many cases, the women did not speak enough Spanish to understand what...