Summary

In 1997, Peruvian mother of three Celia Ramos was getting care at her local medical post when health workers began pressuring her to have a surgical sterilization.

Celia refused—but the health care workers didn’t listen. They were part of a forced sterilization program in Peru between 1996 and 2000. Using misinformation, they eventually convinced Celia to agree to the operation. During the sterilization surgery, Celia experienced respiratory arrest. She died 19 days later.

In 2023, the Center for Reproductive Rights joined this case, representing Celia and other forced sterilization victims before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR)—the highest human rights court in the Americas. Celia Ramos v. Peru is the first-ever case to address Peru’s forced sterilization policy before the IACtHR.

On March 6, 2026, The IACtHR issued a ruling holding Peru accountable for the forced sterilization and subsequent death of Celia Ramos. The ruling advances the protection of women’s reproductive autonomy, consolidating the principle that the right to health is inseparable from civil and political rights, and that States bear a heightened duty to guarantee free, prior, full, and informed consent—with particular rigor in surgical sterilization procedures. It is also a foundational pronouncement on reproductive violence—recognizing it as a form of institutional violence and gender-based discrimination.

Background

Background

Throughout the 1990s, under Alberto Fujimori’s regime, a large part of Peruvian territory was under military control and lacked constitutional guarantees. Civilians lived in fear of violence committed by illegal armed groups as well as by the State.

Peru’s sterilization policy was part of the National Reproductive Health and Family Planning Program (PNSRPF), implemented by the State from 1996-2000.

The government promoted the program as a way to increase family planning access for low-income families—but it actually functioned as a forced sterilization program, targeting impoverished, vulnerable women from rural and indigenous areas.

It was characterized by:

• Misinformation and manipulative advertising campaigns.
• Sterilizations without valid consent.
• Goals and quotas imposed on medical personnel.
• Unsafe medical conditions for performing the operations.
• Impunity and lack of redress in reporting rights violations.

About the case

About the case

In 2010, the Study for the Defense of Women’s Rights (DEMUS) submitted Celia Ramos’s case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a regional human rights body that monitors human rights in the Americas.

The Commission concluded in 2021 that Celia’s rights were violated and recommended that Peru adopt measures of reparation and non-repetition.

In 2023, due to a lack of progress by Peru, the Commission referred the case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR). The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and the Center for Reproductive Rights joined to provide legal representation to the victims.

The Center and its partners are seeking the IACtHR’s recognition that forced sterilization is a form of reproductive violence and gender-based violence—and therefore a violation of human rights.

Specifically, the case asks the IACtHR to:

• Provide truth, justice and reparations for Celia Ramos’s family.
• Establish a concrete reparation program for all victims of Peru’s forced sterilization policy and their families, as well as non-repetition measures.
• Strengthen States’ obligations regarding the right to prior, free, full and informed consent, especially regarding reproductive health.
• Recognize that forced sterilization is a form of reproductive violence and, as committed by the Fujimori regime, constitutes a crime against humanity.
• Include forced sterilization in transitional justice processes for victims of the armed conflict in Peru.

On May 22, 2025, the Center and its partners argued the case at a public hearing before the IACtHR in Guatemala City.

Learn more

Learn more

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