Speaking Event: Forced Sterilization of Women in Peru

DJPC’s 2009 Salon Discussion Series cordially invites you to the January speaking event "Forced Sterilization of Women in Peru" with Michelle Doherty, Guatemalan Human Rights Intern at the Denver Justice and Peace Committee.

Where: DJPC Community Room, 901 W. 14th Ave., Denver
Please park in any empty spaces immediately facing the building, or along the fence facing 14th Avenue. Since it is an apartment complex, certain spaces are reserved!

When: 7-9pm on Thursday, January 15

Cost: FREE

RSVP: at 303-623-1463 or djpc@denjustpeace.org


Please join the Denver Justice and Peace Committee in welcoming Michelle Doherty who will speak about forced sterilization of women in Peru. The heavy and often deadly hand of the Fujimori regime was felt throughout Peru in the ‘90s, and the indigenous and impoverished sector was overwhelmingly targeted. The campaign ‘to end poverty’ resulted in a widespread state-sponsored forced sterilization of women through a ‘voluntary surgical contraceptive’ (VSC) program. The Ministry of Health recorded an astonishing 300,000 women who were sterilized—not all were consensual. Since the late 90s a struggle for justice has been underway but the state has done little if anything to attend to the victim’s rightful demands.

Michelle Doherty is a second year M.A. Candidate in International Human Rights at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies with concentrations in law, security, and humanitarian assistance. Her academic interests range from transitional justice, indigenous rights and mobilization to women's rights and immigrant rights. Michelle was a Peace Corps volunteer in the appropriate technologies for family health program in Guatemala from 2005-07. She has also traveled and studied extensively throughout Latin America. One of her most recent experiences was in Peru as an intern with MAM Fundacional and the International Human Rights Advocacy Center, where she was completing further investigation upon the atrocious forced sterilization program of ex- Head of State Alberto Fujimori. The exhaustingly extensive path to justice for the women who have been forcefully sterilized has not been easy or necessarily successful as evidenced by their 10-year struggle, whose ‘end’ is not in clear sight.


Denver Justice and Peace Committee (DJPC) is a volunteer organization dedicated to promoting human rights, economic justice, and lasting peace in Latin America through education, solidarity projects, and nonviolent activism. www.denjustpeace.org