Peru's Forced Sterilizations Ruled Gender-Based Violence by Human Rights Court

Over 314,000 women—mostly Indigenous and poor—and 24,000 men were sterilized without their consent or under extreme pressure during a program that ran from 1996 to 2000, according to reports.

For the first time, the court ruled that these forced sterilizations constituted institutionalized gender-based violence and torture. The judges emphasized that this policy had been designed and implemented at the highest levels of government.

For Tania Pariona, the ruling is historic. "It recognizes the grave human rights violations committed in the context of forced sterilizations, and it orders measures to uncover the full truth and identify those responsible," said Pariona, the secretary-general of the umbrella organization of Peruvian human rights groups. "It also compels the Peruvian state to provide reparations and take steps to ensure nothing like this ever happens again."

The Long Shadow of Fujimorismo

Pariona, a former Indigenous congresswoman from the Ayacucho region, knows many of the victims—most of them Indigenous. She understands just how significant this ruling is for them. "In Peru, all legal efforts have failed; time and again, the judiciary has shelved these cases under political pressure," she believes.

She blames the enduring influence of Fuerza Popular, the party led by Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the late dictator Alberto "Kenya" Fujimori, under whose rule the forced sterilizations took place. Keiko Fujimori had openly sought a pardon for her father, who was sentenced to roughly 40 years in prison in 2009 for severe human rights abuses and other crimes committed during his presidency. Pariona argues that such a pardon would have been nearly impossible with an ongoing investigation into hundreds of thousands of forced sterilizations.

Many victims share this view, including Elena Carbajal, who leads a group of forcibly sterilized women in Lima and the neighboring port city of Callao.

For two years, Carbajal has pinned her hopes on international justice, as victim organizations in Peru have made no progress. "There has already been a UN-level ruling in my case and those of four other forcibly sterilized women," she said. "To this day, the Peruvian state has not acted on the recommendations. I hope this changes with the ruling from the region's highest judicial body and the case of Celia Edith Ramos Durand."

Whether Reparations Will Actually Materialize Remains Unclear

The death of Celia Edith Ramos Durand—a 34-year-old mother of three who died in 1997 after a tubal ligation—has become a landmark case. The feminist organization Demus, which represents many registered victims, brought her case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2011, alongside her family. Nearly 15 years later, the ruling is a resounding victory: for the first time, the court declared that forced sterilizations constituted institutionalized gender-based violence and torture.

The judges further stressed that the often violent sterilization policy had been planned and executed at the highest levels of government. Former President Alberto Fujimori, who ruled Peru authoritarianly from 1990 to 2000, along with his health ministers at the time, bore direct responsibility. A congressional investigation later confirmed that the non-consensual procedures continued until 2001.

Victim organizations have long maintained that nearly all those affected were Indigenous and that the sterilization program was racist in nature. The chief architect of this policy never faced justice for these crimes against humanity—he died in 2024 and, under then-President Dina Boluarte, was given a state funeral. For survivors like Elena Carbajal, this was a bitter insult. She now hopes for an official state apology and meaningful reparations.

Whether that will happen remains to be seen. In recent years, Peru's parliament has repeatedly debated withdrawing from the Organization of American States (OAS) or at least its judicial system. Many crimes from the internal conflict (1980–2000), including human rights violations, have effectively been amnestied in Peru. In August 2024, a law to that effect was passed.