Namibia’s Supreme Court says HIV-positive women have been forcibly sterilised after giving birth, in a decision being hailed by activists as a victory for women throughout Africa.
The southern African nation’s highest court dismissed a government appeal against a judgment holding it liable for sterilising three HIV-positive women in state hospitals without their informed consent.
Chief Justice Peter Shivute ruled the doctors should not have sterilised the women and ordered damages be considered for the victims who each claimed one million rand ($A104,000).
Namibian Women’s Health Network director Jennifer Gatsi Mallet applauded the decision, saying the cases were only the tip of the iceberg.
“We have documented dozens of cases of other HIV-positive women who have been forcibly sterilised. The government needs to take active steps to ensure all women subjected to this unlawful practice get redress,” she said.
Ms Mallet said the decision proved that public hospitals in Namibia had been coercively sterilising HIV-positive women without their consent.
The Southern Africa Litigation Centre, which backed the women in their legal challenge, said the decision had far-reaching consequences for HIV-positive women throughout Africa who have been forcibly sterilised.
“This decision sends a clear message that governments throughout Africa must take concrete actions to end this practice,” deputy director Priti Patel said.
The judge said the women should have been allowed to make an informed decision and been given an opportunity to return to the hospital later to undergo sterilisation if they wanted.
“None of the respondents gave informed consent because they were in varying degrees of labour and may not have fully and rationally comprehended the consequences of giving consent for the sterilisation procedure,” he said.
“There can be no place in this day and age for medical paternalism when it comes to the important moment of deciding whether or not to undergo a sterilisation procedure.”
AFP