The Guardian
Natalia Antelava
Evidence of operations under cover of caesareans as doctors claim targets set to help control population
Natalia Antelava
Evidence of operations under cover of caesareans as doctors claim targets set to help control population
Two weeks after Bakhor came home with her newborn son the joy of the new baby was overshadowed by a growing suspicion that something had gone badly wrong.
"I kept bleeding heavy black lumps, and the pain was unbearable, I thought I had a tumour," the 32-year-old Uzbek says.
It took Bakhor four months to save up money for an ultrasound. She cries as she remembers the result. During the caesarean section, the doctor explained, she had a hysterectomy.
"The doctor said 'you don't have a uterus any more'. He said: 'What do you need it for? Two children is enough for you'," she says.
A two-month long investigation for the BBC World Service and Radio 4 has uncovered what appears to be a systematic state-run programme in Uzbekistan to sterilise women, often against their will and without their knowledge.
Uzbek president Islam Karimov tolerates no dissent in his country and women and doctors who told their stories did so on condition of anonymity. Over secure phone lines doctors and health ministry officials told me that while first recorded cases of forced sterilisations go back to 2004, in 2009 sterilisations became a state policy. "All of us have a sterilization quota," said a gynaecologist in the capital, Tashkent. "My quota is four women a month. We are under a lot of pressure." In rural areas, doctors say, the number can be as high as eight women a week.
"We go from house to house convincing women to have the operation," said a chief surgeon in a rural hospital. "It's easy to talk a poor woman into it. It's also easy to trick them," he admitted.
Several doctors said that in the last two years there had been a dramatic increase in caesarean sections across the country, disputing official statements that only 6.8% of women give birth that way. "I believe 80% of women give birth through c-sections. This makes it very easy to tie the fallopian tubes," said one gynaecologist.
"I kept bleeding heavy black lumps, and the pain was unbearable, I thought I had a tumour," the 32-year-old Uzbek says.
It took Bakhor four months to save up money for an ultrasound. She cries as she remembers the result. During the caesarean section, the doctor explained, she had a hysterectomy.
"The doctor said 'you don't have a uterus any more'. He said: 'What do you need it for? Two children is enough for you'," she says.
A two-month long investigation for the BBC World Service and Radio 4 has uncovered what appears to be a systematic state-run programme in Uzbekistan to sterilise women, often against their will and without their knowledge.
Uzbek president Islam Karimov tolerates no dissent in his country and women and doctors who told their stories did so on condition of anonymity. Over secure phone lines doctors and health ministry officials told me that while first recorded cases of forced sterilisations go back to 2004, in 2009 sterilisations became a state policy. "All of us have a sterilization quota," said a gynaecologist in the capital, Tashkent. "My quota is four women a month. We are under a lot of pressure." In rural areas, doctors say, the number can be as high as eight women a week.
"We go from house to house convincing women to have the operation," said a chief surgeon in a rural hospital. "It's easy to talk a poor woman into it. It's also easy to trick them," he admitted.
Several doctors said that in the last two years there had been a dramatic increase in caesarean sections across the country, disputing official statements that only 6.8% of women give birth that way. "I believe 80% of women give birth through c-sections. This makes it very easy to tie the fallopian tubes," said one gynaecologist.
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