"There is good reason . . . to believe that girls continue to be sterilised,
and sterilised in numbers which far exceed those that have been lawfully
authorised."
-From a report release this week on sterilization of girls and women
with "intellectual disabilities" in Australia
--
**
Report Says Illegal Sterilizations Have Continued
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
http://www.InclusionDaily.com
April 27, 2001

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA--Despite human rights protections put in
place by the Australian government nearly a decade ago, a considerable
number of young women and girls with "intellectual disabilities" are being
sexually sterilized legally and illegally.

This is one of the findings in a 60-page report published jointly Tuesday
by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner and the Disability Discrimination
Commissioner at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
The study was commissioned as a follow up to a similar report done in
1997.

In 1992, Australia's High Court ruled that children with disabilities are
not to be sterilized without first gaining permission from a court or
tribunal, unless if the surgery occurs because of a medical reason, such as
cancer. The tribunal or court may only give permission if it is determined
to be in the child's best interests and after other less invasive procedures
have not worked. Other laws have added that the child must have given
informed consent.

The report suggests that this has not been the case, and that, despite the
laws and public education, illegal sterilizations continued through the
1990's, many without .

Researchers found that it was nearly impossible to determine exactly how
many girls or young women had been sterilized, because different authorities
had different ways of counting the numbers. Some sources put the numbers
over a thousand, while others estimated the total at a few dozen.

Even the official data compiled by the researchers is disturbing. During the
period between 1992 and 1998, nearly all applications for sterilization of
girls with intellectual disabilities were approved. The girls, whose ages
ranged from 10 to 18 years of age, had what researches described as
"varied competencies". "Not all of them have severe intellectual
disabilities,"
the report states.

All of the procedures authorized were hysterectomies rather than less
invasive tubal ligations. Nearly half of the girls officially sterilized
were 14 years of age or younger.

One of the main recommendations given by the report's authors has to
do with the fact that over 80 percent of the girls legally sterilized
attended a "special school for children with disabilities" on a full-time
basis. As a result, the writers recommend that those who provide services
to children with disabilities be educated on the laws regarding
sterilization
and the rights of those children.

The report, entitled "The Sterilisation of Girls and Young Women: Issues
and Progress", can be accessed from this website:
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/sterilisation/index.html

On Thursday, Attorney General Honorable Daryl Williams welcomed the
report and it's recommendations.

"Illegal sterilisation is an extremely serious matter which constitutes a
violation of the human rights of any girl or woman who has been subjected
to it," Williams said in a press release. "This latest report will
contribute
to community debate and help to raise public awareness about this
important issue."

That statement is available at this address:
http://law.gov.au/aghome/agnews/2001newsag/961_01.htm
---
Distributed to this list by:
Dave Reynolds, Editor
Inclusion Daily Express / Inclusion Weekly Review
Disability Rights News Service
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http://www.InclusionDaily.com
Copyright 2001 Inonit Publishing