Peru held responsible for mother's death in forced sterilisation

The inter-American court of human rights condemned Peru over the death of Celia Ramos, who was 34 when she died in 1997 after undergoing sterilisation “under coercion”. The ruling is the first on Peru’s forced sterilisation programme, which operated between 1996 and 2000 and targeted poor, rural and Indigenous women.

The court held the Peruvian state “internationally responsible” for violations of Ramos’s rights to life, health, personal integrity, family, access to information and equality before the law. It determined Ramos “was pressured by health personnel to undergo a tubal ligation” on 3 July 1997 in a makeshift facility that “did not have the necessary equipment or medications for proper risk assessment or to deal with emergencies”.

Ramos suffered a “severe allergic reaction” during the operation and died 19 days later.

Peru

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