Forced sterilization in Peru
Under the administration of President Alberto Fujimori, Peru implemented a forced sterilization campaign as part of the National Population Program, primarily targeting impoverished and indigenous women in rural Andean regions.
This effort, regarded as the largest state-sponsored sterilization initiative in the Americas,[1] was publicly presented as a progressive strategy for promoting reproductive health and economic development.
In recent years, victims and advocacy groups have sought formal recognition and justice, though significant hurdles remain in obtaining comprehensive reparations and ensuring full responsibility for those involved.
The systematic targeting of indigenous women for sterilization, often without their informed consent during the Fujimori regime,[3] affected peasant populations in the Peruvian highlands and reflected the belief that they were 'unfit' for reproduction according to the "imperatives of racial hygiene" and their perceived role as a barrier to national advancement.
[5] Public discourse on the so-called "Indian problem" portrayed indigenous populations as obstacles to national progress while associating racial improvement with increased whiteness.
[14] In the 1980s, the Peruvian Armed Forces grew increasingly frustrated with President Alan García's inability to address the country's political crises, including the civil war.
[16][21][22] It proposed making tubal ligation the standard procedure at health centers, urging compulsory methods "on an experimental basis" and calling for discrimination against "surplus population", which were deemed detrimental to Peru's progress.
[23][21][16] Peruvian analyst Fernando Rospigliosi likened these ideas to those of the Nazis, noting the extreme language used in the plan,[24] including references to the "total extermination" of certain populations due to their perceived incorrigibility and lack of resources.
[25] Recognizing the growing influence of Vladimiro Montesinos – Fujimori's advisor and future head of the National Intelligence Service (SIN) – senior military commanders transferred the Plan Verde to him.
[32][22] The Family Planning Program (1991–1998) was initially supported by national and international organizations due to the historical neglect of comprehensive reproductive health policies in Peru.
[30] The program director, Eduardo Yong Motta, demanded increased quotas for sterilizations, and Fujimori, known for his micromanagement, personally pressured regional leaders to comply.
[38] Fujimori's government used feminist discourse to legitimize the campaign, framing it as a progressive step toward women's empowerment and family planning,[39] even as human rights violations occurred.
Cesarean sections were also used as opportunities to carry out sterilizations without informed consent,[40] and healthcare workers sometimes offered food incentives—such as bags of rice—to persuade women to undergo the procedure.
Under these conditions, some women were asked to sign or place their fingerprints on consent forms they could not understand, and refusal often led to threats of losing access to food programs.
[43] Forced sterilization in Peru, carried out under the National Population Program, has been analyzed by numerous scholars and organizations as a form of systemic violence against indigenous and rural women.
[23][21][41][44] Scholars such as Michele Back and Virginia Zavala emphasize that the program's focus on marginalized groups, particularly indigenous communities, aligns with the characteristics of ethnic cleansing due to its targeted nature.
[45] Jocelyn E. Getgen from Cornell University argues that the systemic implementation of these sterilizations, combined with the documented intent of officials associated with Plan Verde—a military strategy devised during the Peruvian Civil War (1980–2000)—meets the criteria for genocide.
[47] Alejandra Ballón Gutiérrez, a Peruvian researcher, asserts that forced sterilization served as "a weapon of war and an instrument of torture" aimed at indigenous women.
Consequently, the sterilizations were part of a broader strategy to suppress perceived insurgent threats by reducing the birth rates of communities deemed subversive or destabilizing.
[54] In January 1998, David Morrison, from the U.S.-based NGO Population Research Institute (PRI), traveled to Peru to investigate claims of human rights abuses related to these programs.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established in 2001 to investigate two decades of civil war between the Shining Path, rondas campesinas (peasant militias), and the Peruvian military.
The Church's opposition was framed by a conservative agenda, yet it adopted elements of human rights and public health frameworks to strengthen its stance against family planning.
Giulia Tamayo [es], herself one of Flora Tristán's key figures, published a detailed report on the Fujimori government's "Health Festivals", (Spanish: festivales de salud) where mass sterilizations took place.
[60] Publicly, the Fujimori administration and Fujimorists denied the existence of a forced sterilization program,[61] attributing the allegations to an "international conspiracy" and accusing local critics of disregarding the health needs of the poor.
[40] In a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, President Alberto Fujimori mocked the human rights organizations that condemned the sterilizations, suggesting that their discontent stemmed from not receiving state funding.
In contrast, the Fujimori government fostered a climate of fear, marked by ongoing concerns about terrorism and economic instability, which silenced many voices and created tacit support for the regime among broader segments of Peruvian society.
[63][64] In 1999, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights received a case concerning Mamerita Mestanza Chavez, who was coerced into undergoing sterilization without adequate medical care, ultimately resulting in her death.
[63][65] In 2016, a Peruvian public prosecutor concluded that Fujimori and his administration should not face prosecution, suggesting that any coercive sterilizations stemmed from isolated misconduct by individual medical personnel.
[65] This decision was later overturned in 2024, when Justice Andrea Muñoz Sánchez of the Supreme Court of Chile approved including forced sterilization charges in the extradition framework, allowing the prosecution to advance.
[67] Subsequently, in October 2024, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women issued a landmark ruling declaring that Peru's policy of forced sterilizations in the 1990s could constitute a crime against humanity.
