MOSCOW – An independent think-tank and a rights group in Uzbekistan claim that authorities have instructed health workers to surgically sterilize women as part of a government campaign to reduce the birth rate in the authoritarian ex-Soviet nation.
The Expert Working Group claimed Tuesday that a Health Ministry decree has ordered doctors to conduct hysterectomies on tens of thousands of women in the Central Asian nation.
The Najot rights group reported “numerous” cases of forced sterilization in maternity hospitals where doctors allegedly sterilize women without their consent.
Uzbek health officials did not answer repeated phone calls seeking comment.
A human right activist who made similar allegations in 2005 was jailed for alleged anti-government actions.