Forced or Coerced Sterilisation
Non-consensual and invasive restrictions on any persons’ ability to make childbearing decisions represent a severe affront to reproductive rights affecting many communities of poor and marginalised persons worldwide. Often condoned in the name of a public health “rationale” such as population control or prevention of HIV in infants, these practices are in fact carried out on the basis of discriminatory stereotypes such as the inability of certain types of people to be “fit parents.”
Among the many populations disproportionately affected are women living with HIV, Romani women, persons with mental health problems or intellectual disabilities, transgender persons, persons who use drugs, and indigenous persons. Although sterilisation may be carried out by individual health providers, it is ultimately the responsibility of governments to protect everyone from such abuse and to support health providers in realising reproductive rights. Governments must protect individuals from forced sterilisation and guarantee all people’s right to the information and services they need to exercise full reproductive choice and autonomy.
News:
WMA and IFHHRO call for end to forced sterilisation
Case study: Jane (Namibia)
Selected resources:
IFHHRO Position Statement on forced and/or coerced sterilisation, IFHHRO, 2011
Fact sheet Against Her Will: Forced and Coerced Sterilization of Women Worldwide, Open Society Foundations, 2011
Guidelines FIGO guidelines on sterilisation of women, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 2011
Briefing paper Reproductive Rights Violations as Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment: A Critical Human Rights Analysis, Center for Reproductive Rights, 2010
Briefing paper The Right to Contraceptive Information and Services for Women and Adolescents, Center for Reproductive Rights, 2010
Short report Special Health and Law Seminar Sterilization and Medical Professionalism: Human Rights Challenges and Responsibilities, IFHHRO, 2010
Article Sterilisation and informed consent, MIMS Women’s Health, vol 4, no 3, 2009
More than 1,600 Palestinian prisoners have agreed to end their hunger strike in exchange for concessions by Israel, including a modification to its practice of detention without charge or trial. 
As of June 1st 2012, the IFHHRO International Secretariat in Utrecht, the Netherlands, will be closed. The secretarial work of IFHHRO will continue with less capacity and with volunteers.
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