Uzbekistani women sterilized against their will

A two-month long investigation for the BBC World Service and Radio 4 has uncovered what appears to be a systematic state-run programme inUzbekistan to sterilise women, often against their will and without their knowledge, The Guardian reported.

Uzbek president Islam Karimov tolerates no dissent in his country and women and doctors who told their stories did so on condition of anonymity. Over secure phone lines doctors and health ministry officials have said that while first recorded cases of forced sterilisations go back to 2004, in 2009 sterilisations became a state policy. “All of us have a sterilization quota,” said a gynaecologist in the capital, Tashkent. “My quota is four women a month. We are under a lot of pressure.” In rural areas, doctors say, the number can be as high as eight women a week.  Read more... (1462 words, 11 images)

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