By: Shane Kelly
Impunity Watch Staff Writer
GEORGIA, United States of America – On October 30, 2020, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemned the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for sterilization procedures performed on detainees of the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, GA.
Specifically, the IACHR admonished the non-consensual hysterectomies and neglect of surgeons, which violated rights to personal security, family, and privacy afforded by the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, the complaint presented by human rights organizations describes the compounding harm caused by the risk of COVID-19 infection, experienced by those subjected to the procedures.
The complaint, presented to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security by numerous social justice organizations, alleges that the migrant detention center in Irwin County, GA, has been sterilizing women with neglect towards general medical care, including a lack of effective measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The IACHR has called for the immediate cessation of said practices, as well as investigations and prosecutions of those responsible.
The complaint is corroborated by testimonies from a former nurse, multiple detainees, and an independent medical team. The former nurse describes some shocking stories, including one of a detained immigrant woman who underwent surgery to have one of her ovaries removed because of a cyst, only to awake from anesthesia with a total hysterectomy. The medical team’s report found records of nineteen migrant women who experienced negligent care, discriminatory treatment, and dangerous environments considered inefficient in reducing the spread of COVID-19.
In the international context, the IACHR invokes the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ decision in the Case of IV v. the State of Bolivia, where the court recognized the autonomy and reproductive human rights of women in their lives and bodies. The IACHR also looks to the “Inter-American Principles on the Human Rights of All Migrants, Refugees, Stateless Persons, and Victims of Human Trafficking, Resolution 01/20 on Pandemics and Human Rights,” for recommendations and guidelines in remedying this issue.
These violations of migrant women’s rights come amidst a time of harsh scrutiny of ICE’s procedures in its operations of detention centers. Other violations made public include: deplorable living conditions; lack of separation in a global pandemic; and deprivation of the right to freedom of religion. The IACHR is further concerned with the lack of response from the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Human Services following the publicity of the conditions by the press, the submission of the complaint, and the IACHR’s condemnation. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has also recently urged action from the inspector general to investigate the allegations.
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