Final Project - Austin

For my final project, I chose to engage with a topic relevant to my native Quechua community and take this opportunity to speak up about an injustice that has persisted for two decades and is still actively being fought.

CW: reproductive health, medical abuse

In the late ‘90s, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori initiated a “Compulsive Family Planning Program” aimed at countering the poverty crisis through population management. This program was pushed through by using misleading information (pamphlets, radio ads, etc.), food incentives, and financial threats, and ultimately resulted in the forced sterilization of almost 300,000 women and over 20,000 men, mostly from rural, predominately indigenous communities. Not only were these thousands of sterilizations performed without the informed consent of the individuals involved, but many of the medical procedures involved were haphazardly managed including improper pre-surgery evaluations, little to no after care, and no proper anesthetist. People have pushed for justice for the individuals and families affected by this atrocity as there is no reparation law in place, but the case has been closed and re-opened over three times since 2001. Recently, the case was brought to the UN Human Rights Council by ONAMIAP (link below), Peru’s National Organization of Indigenous Andean and Amazonian Women. However, despite all of this work, very few individuals and families have been awarded settlements. Fujimori has been in jail since 2007 on charges of human rights abuses and corruption, but this has hardly provided enough justice for the families and individuals who have passed away as a result of the improperly handled operations and for those who still live with the trauma of the event.

This fight for justice and reparation is ongoing as no court has managed to provide support for the people affected. I encourage you all to check out the Quipa Project (link below), an interactive documentary that provides a platform for the voices of this injustice to be heard. It has information on how these individuals have been seeking justice, and it also provides first-hand stories on the operations and life after. As the fight for justice continues, we must remain diligent in lifting up the voices of these marginalized native communities.

Quipa Project: https://interactive.quipu-project.com/

ONAMIAP: http://onamiap.org/