The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) has ruled that Peru is internationally responsible for the death of Celia Ramos, a 34-year-old mother who died in 1997 after undergoing forced sterilisation. The landmark decision is the first to address Peru's mass sterilisation programme, which targeted over 310,000 women, mostly Indigenous and poor, between 1996 and 2000 under former President Alberto Fujimori.
The court found that Ramos was pressured by health personnel to undergo a tubal ligation on 3 July 1997 in a makeshift facility lacking proper equipment or medications. She suffered a severe allergic reaction and died 19 days later. The state was also held responsible for failing to investigate her death promptly and for the impact on her family, violating rights to personal integrity, family, and children's rights.
The ruling noted that the programme set numerical targets for sterilising women of child-bearing age, resulting in over 314,000 female and 24,000 male sterilisations, many without valid consent. Neither Fujimori nor his health ministers were ever prosecuted for the campaign, described as Peru's most flagrant human rights violation under his rule.
Catalina Martínez Coral of the Center for Reproductive Rights called the ruling a historic victory for human rights. Marisela Monzón Ramos, Celia's eldest daughter, said: 'We represent all of those thousands of women that suffered so much over so many years. Although we have obtained justice and recognition of the truth, it does not take away from the injustice that Celia Ramos and other women lost their lives.'
