By Alejandro I. López
In 1995, Fujimori announced the official implementation of the Programa Nacional de Salud Reproductiva y Planificación Familiar (National Program for Reproductive Health and Planned Parenthood), a public health strategy that had the goal of reducing birth rates in the most marginalized regions of Peru.
“Compulsory or forced sterilization is a human rights violation that occurs when an individual is sterilized after having rejected the procedure, when the procedure is applied without the individual’s knowledge, or when the individual lack the opportunity to consent to the procedure with full awareness of its implications and consequences.” 1
Consisting of a medical procedure that negatively and permanently affects fertility without the victim’s consent, this crime against humanity and of sexual violence has often been used in Latin America—especially against the most vulnerable groups and indigenous communities.
In the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of women were subjected to compulsory sterilizations under the so-called program of Anticoncepción Quirúrgica Voluntaria (Voluntary Surgical Contraception). Unsurprisingly, all of them belonged to marginalized indigenous communities.
The legal road was completed once Legislature 26530 was approved, an amendment that, broadly speaking, modified the general National Population Policy Statute, adding voluntary surgical contraception as a valid government-implemented contraception method. While superficially the amendment appeared to be a triumph for women’s sexual and reproductive rights, in practice it became a way to sterilize them against their will.
In the specific instance of Fujimori’s dictatorship, the targets of his sterilization programs wasn’t randomly selected: behind the selection lay the terrible policy of eugenics. But he not only considered the indigenous people of his country to belong to an “inferior race,” he also relied on the discriminatory stereotype that these communities are fundamentally ignorant, that they are “underdeveloped,” and that they should renounce their customs and traditions in order to “catch up” with modernity (whatever this means).
“[These were] farmers, indigenous women inhabiting the marginalized areas of the main cities, including Lima; in two words: poor women, who were sterilized through tubal ligation without their consent using coercion, threats, or at best blackmail by giving them food supplies. All this to submit them to an irreversible contraceptive method … about which they were not fully informed” 2
Alberto FujimoriFujimori took advantage of the economic crisis in his country to introduce the anti-natalist policy, putting monetary interests above any consideration for human and reproductive rights. This was a crime against humanity through and through, riddled with undertones of social darwinism of genocidal proportions.
“This present-day kind of eugenics, practices mostly against the most poverty-stricken people in the country, aimed for the stabilization (and possibly the decrease) of population growth in rural and farming communities, therefore imposing a policy of economic growth at the expense of human dignity.” 3
The m.o. behind this practice was based on threats and coercion to execute the surgical procedures. Doctors, nurses, and medical personnel, who visited each home in order to convince indigenous women not only harassed them into accepting, but actively misinformed them—while pretending to engage in a public health campaign.
From 1996 to 200, over 314,605 women were sterilized. Less than 10% of these procedures was actually voluntary. Most were indigenous women, Quechua-speakers and illiterate.
RPP PeruThere were instances where medical personnel took advantage of the convalescence of women who had just given birth. Authorities threatened them, telling them they would not register the newborn unless she undertook the procedure. In the worst cases, women were harassed and taken to the clinics by force.
Irreversible surgical contraception was also often required to have access to basic social and infrastructure programs, as well as government welfare. It was also common to threaten victims with jail time. On many occasions, the government convinced the women’s husbands to sign a document that illegitimately granted permission to perform the procedure on their wives.
Despite the fact that Alberto Fujimori was declared guilty of several crimes and spent time in prison, the atrocities related to compulsory sterilization were not even considered for determining his sentence. A true compensation for the victims and the search for truth and justice, in the face of gross human rights violations, is yet to be achieved.
Translated by Oliver G. Alvar
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References:
1. Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos
2. Lucía M. Alvites Sosa, Esterilizaciones forzadas en el Perú. El tiempo de las mujeres y su memoria
3. Ballón, Alejandra (dir.). Memorias del caso peruano de esterilización forzada. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú, 2014