Windhoek Faith Sankwasa. Government to cough up for forced sterilisations. Available at: http://www.namibiansun.com/justice/govt-cough-for-forced-sterilisations.73039

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a High Court ruling in favour of three HIV-positive women, who sued government for damages arising from coerced sterilisation.
Chief Justice Peter Shivute and judges Sylvester Mainga and Gerhard Maritz found that the women, who cannot be identified due to their HIV status, should not have been sterilised because of the circumstances under which their consent was obtained.
The judgement also found that the women should have been given an opportunity to return to hospital at a later stage to undergo a bilateral tubal litigation (BTL), after having an opportunity to make informed decisions in a sound state of mind, and not under duress stemming from circumstances such as the labour pains they experienced at the time they signed the consent forms.
The Supreme Court found that none of the women gave “informed consent”, because they were in varying degrees of labour pain and may not have fully and rationally comprehended the consequences of giving consent for the sterilisation procedure.
“This is especially the case given that none of the respondents made any appointment or booking to confirm their intention to be sterilised before going into labour,” the Supreme Court judgement read.
Government’s appeal was dismissed without costs and referred back to the High Court for it to determine the damages payable by the government to each woman.
High Court Judge Elton Hoff on July 30, 2012 ordered government to compensate the women who were coerced into sterilisation procedures at different public hospitals between 2005 and 2007.
The first woman was sterilised on June 13, 2005 at the Oshakati State Hospital, while a mother of three, was sterilised on December 9, 2007 at Katutura State Hospital.
A third woman, who is the mother of six children, underwent coerced sterilisation on October 13, 2005 at Katutura State Hospital.
The three women all claim they were sterilised after they had sought pre-natal services on different occasions. In 2008, the women sued government to be compensated for damages emanating from the procedures. They each claimed N$1 million for being sterilised without consent and another N$200 000 for being sterilised because of their health status.

WINDHOEK FAITH SANKWASA