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| The judge said that damages would be decided at a later date |
A judge in
Namibia has ruled that three women were sterilised without their informed
consent but said there was no evidence this was because they were HIV-positive.
The case
was brought by three women who opted to have Caesarean deliveries to reduce the
risk of passing Aids to their babies.
Health
officials had denied that the women were forcibly sterilised.
The women's
lawyers say similar cases have been reported in nearby countries.
Judge Elton
Hoff said damages would be decided at a later date.
'Excruciating
pain'
The women's
lawyers say their clients were told by doctors in Namibia that they would only
be eligible for surgery if they agreed to be sterilised at the same time.
The lawyers
say coerced consent does not amount to informed consent and that therefore the
Namibian authorities violated the women's human rights.
The health
ministry denies that it issued a directive for HIV-positive women to be
sterilised and said it was unaware of anyone being sterilised without their
consent.
Nicole
Fritz, from the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, which brought the case, told
the BBC the women had been in pain and unclear about what was going to happen.
"One
of the women had been in labour for four days, was in excruciating pain. Others
among the women didn't know exactly what they were consenting to. They thought
that this was part of the Caesarean procedure," Ms Fritz said.
"So to
the extent that they can be said to have consented, they did not understand
what it was, what the procedure was that they were consenting to - they had no
informed consent."
Lawyers say
they have evidence that HIV-positive women are being forced to undergo
sterilisation in Swaziland and parts of South Africa, which they say is an
infringement of the women's constitutional rights.
About 13%
of adults in Namibia are HIV-positive, according to UNAids.
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