[JURIST] The Namibia Supreme Court ruled [judgment] Monday that three HIV-positive women were forcibly sterilized in public hospitals. This decision affirms [JURIST report] the July 2012 intermediate court ruling [judgment], which stated that the sterilizations were illegal because circumstances rendered the consent coerced and uninformed. All three sterilizations occurred while the women were in the hospital for emergency caesarian sections, and all three were asked to sign the sterilization consent forms during “the height of labor.” The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) [advocacy website] reported [press release] that this ruling is just the “tip of the iceberg” in addressing dozens of forced sterilization cases the Namibian Women’s Health Network [advocacy website] has documented over the past seven years. Priti Patel, Deputy Director of the SALC, supported the ruling, stating: “This decision has far-reaching consequences not only for HIV-positive women in Namibia but for the dozens of HIV-positive women throughout Africa who have been forcibly sterilized. This decision sends a clear message that governments throughout Africa must take concrete actions to end this practice.”

Governments worldwide have struggled in recent years to prevent the spreading of HIV without infringing on the rights of citizens. Two years ago a UN commission reported that laws in all countries of the world are limiting assistance and options available [JURIST report] to individuals infected with HIV/AIDS. The commission found that a variety of laws and practices worldwide affect individuals’ ability both to prevent exposure to the virus and to seek help after infection. In 2011 the UK Department of Health announced that it would lift the lifetime ban [JURIST report] on blood donations from men who have had sex with other men. Britain introduced the lifetime ban in the 1980s in an effort to quell the proliferation of HIV and AIDS. A federal panel considered overturning a similar US ban [ABC report] on blood donations, but no action has yet been taken. Last year a US District Court ruled that HIV segregation in prisons was unconstitutional [JURIST op-ed], ending segregation in both Alabama and South Carolina prisons.