Windhoek - A Namibian court ruled on Monday that three HIV-positive
women were sterilised without their informed consent, but dismissed
their claim that the tubal ligation was conducted because of their HIV
status.
"The first claim by the three plaintiffs, [that] they were sterilised without their consent, succeeded," Judge Elton Hoff said.
But the claim that "they were sterilised because they were HIV-positive, is dismissed".
The
three plaintiffs are part of a group of 16 women who are each suing the
Namibian government for N$1.2m (R1.2m) for allegedly sterilising them
without their consent because they are HIV-positive.
The sterilisation procedures were conducted between 2005 and 2009.
In
the first such court case in Africa, one of the women recounted during
the hearing how while in labour, she was approached by a nurse who
handed her a document to sign, saying the form would authorise a
Caesarean section.
The woman, whose name has not been divulged at
the court's order, said she only found out later that she had been
sterilised when she overheard two nurses discussing her case in the
hospital ward.
She claimed the nurses had explained she had been
sterilised because she carried the HIV virus, which infects about 13% of
Namibians aged 15 to 49.