Shades of Nazi Germany! It has been reported that under the presidency of Alberto Fujimori in Peru, from 1990 to 2000, there was allegedly a government policy of forced sterilisations carried out on Peruvian women. It appears that there may have been up to 300,000 victims of this horrific policy, which can only be described as a gross human rights violation. The majority of the women subjected to it were poor, and often belonging to indigenous groups who would not have been able to speak any language other than their own particular one. Partly because of this the women would not have understood what was being carried out on them – when they were asked, that is. It seems that in very many cases the women were not even consulted about what was about to be imposed on them. See BBC report Aurelia Paccohuanca (see photograph) who had 4 children was told by nurses
"You give birth like pigs or hamsters!"
The Attorney General of Peru has just recently re-opened an investigation into the practice of forced sterilisations, and the evidence of many women will contribute to the legal examination into the allegations – so called – that the practice was standard among public health-care providers under the term of office of Mr. Fujimori.
One woman who was sterilised without her knowledge, following the birth of her child (who died soon afterwards), took an action for damages against the doctor who performed the sterilisation on her. She was successful in her action, and she was awarded the sum of approximately €2,400. What an inhuman and derisory outcome. No money could ever replace her inability to conceive and bear children in the future.
Let us hope that the sterilised women (and some men, also) of Peru may be granted some peace in their lives
