The Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Thursday ordered Peru to pay approximately $340,000 in reparations to the family of Celia Ramos, a 34-year-old mother of three who died in 1997 after being coerced into a sterilization procedure at a state health center under the administration of the late Alberto Fujimori. The ruling is the first by Latin America’s highest human rights tribunal addressing Peru’s forced sterilization program, which the court found had systematically targeted impoverished and Indigenous women.
The landmark judgment holds the Peruvian state accountable for a death that occurred nearly three decades ago and may broaden scrutiny to other former officials now that criminal proceedings against Fujimori himself ended with his 2024 death.
What happened to Ramos
Ramos was living in an Andean village when she sought care at a state health center and was instead pressured into undergoing a tubal ligation, according to the court. The procedure was performed without proper equipment or medication to manage complications.
When Ramos suffered a severe allergic reaction during the surgery, she was not moved to intensive care for approximately 30 minutes. She died 19 days later, on July 22, 1997. Peruvian authorities then bypassed a formal autopsy and provided her family no clear explanation of her death, the court said.
The reparations award
The $340,000 payment to the Ramos family covers reimbursement for medical expenses incurred during the 1997 effort to save her life and compensation for the income she would have earned throughout her productive years. Peru’s Ministry of Justice did not respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press.
Where criminal accountability stands
In August 2024, the Peruvian justice system overturned a criminal indictment against Fujimori in the forced sterilization case. Following Fujimori’s death in 2024, those proceedings reverted to the formal complaint stage. Criminal investigators are now focused on determining the responsibility of other former senior officials, including several former health ministers.