Prosecution of Forced Sterilisations in Peru Still Possible

Alfonso Ramos (left) shows a newspaper reporting the death of his sister Celia in Piura due to forced sterilisation. Micaela Flores (centre) and Sabina Huillca are sterilisation victims from Cusco. All three have been waiting for justice for 17 years. Credit: Milagros Salazar/IPSBy Milagros SalazarLIMA, Feb 3 2014 (IPS) Shelving the case of the forced sterilisation of more than 2,000 women in Peru during the Alberto Fujimori regime was a surprise move by the prosecutor in charge. What happened? An IPS investigation found that legal avenues to pursue justice have not been exhausted. On Jan. 24, prosecutor Marco Guzmán announced an end to the investigation of forced sterilisations carried out in Peru between 1996 and 2000. He said he would not pursue criminal charges against Fujimori (1990-2000), three former health ministers and other officials accused of being responsible for the crime."The doors were padlocked. They carried me off in a stretcher, tied my feet and cut me.” -- Micaela Flores “They took us in trucks. We got in quite innocently and contentedly. But then we heard screams and I ran…The doors were padlocked. They carried me off in a stretcher, tied my feet and cut me,” Micaela Flores, then a mother of seven from Anta province in the southern region of Cusco, told IPS. On that occasion about 30 women went to the health centre, duped by a campaign offering general check-ups, she said. Guzmán has decided to prosecute only health personnel in the northern dep...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Editors' Choice Gender Violence Headlines Health Human Rights Indigenous Rights Latin America & the Caribbean Poverty & MDGs TerraViva Europe TerraViva United Nations Women's Health Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Source Type: news