35
VIII-1
RIGHTS TO PERSONAL INTEGRITY,155 TO PERSONAL LIBERTY,156 TO DIGNITY,157 TO
PRIVACY AND FAMILY LIFE,158 TO ACCESS TO INFORMATION,159 TO RAISE A FAMILY,160
AND TO RECOGNITION OF JURIDICAL PERSONALITY,161 IN RELATION TO THE
OBLIGATIONS TO RESPECT AND TO ENSURE RIGHTS WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION,162 AND
ALSO ARTICLE 7 OF THE CONVENTION OF BELÉM DO PARÁ163
118. In this section, the Court will examine the arguments concerning the alleged violations related
to the tubal ligation procedure to which I.V. was subjected. To this end, the Court finds it pertinent,
first, to describe the arguments of the parties and of the Commission regarding Articles 5(1), 13(1),
11(1), 11(2), 17(2), 3 and 1(1) of the American Convention, and also Article 7 of the Convention of
Belém do Pará, and then to present the pertinent considerations and decide the disputes collectively,
rather than separately article by article.
A.
Arguments of the parties and of the Commission
A.1 Arguments on the right to personal integrity (Article 5(1) of the American
Convention)
119. The Commission argued that the right to personal integrity is a broad concept that includes
a woman’s maternal health, and its protection entails the State’s obligation to ensure that women
have access, on an equal footing, to adequate and timely health services and to the necessary
information on maternity and reproductive health. In this regard, it considered that performing the
surgical procedure of sterilization without I.V.’s consent did not constitute an appropriate or opportune
measure of maternal health and deprived her, permanently and absolutely, of her reproductive rights,
which violated her right to physical and mental integrity, and caused her feelings of profound anguish,
helplessness and frustration, exacerbated by the lack of access to justice. In addition, it considered
that the existence of a request to reverse a tubal ligation by the victim of a forced sterilization was
155
Article 5(1) establishes that: “Every person has the right to have his physical, mental, and moral integrity respected.”
156
Article 7(1) stipulates that: “Every person has the right to personal liberty and security,”
157
Article 11(1) establishes that: “Everyone has the right to have his honor respected and his dignity recognized.”
Article 11(2) requires that: “No one may be the object of arbitrary or abusive interference with his private life, his family,
his home, or his correspondence, or of unlawful attacks on his honor or reputation.”
158
Article 13(1) establishes that: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and expression. This right includes freedom
to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, in print, in the form
of art, or through any other medium of one's choice.”
159
Article 17(2) establishes that: “The right of men and women of marriageable age to marry and to raise a family shall be
recognized, if they meet the conditions required by domestic laws, insofar as such conditions do not affect the principle of
nondiscrimination established in this Convention.”
160
161
Article 3 stipulates that: “Every person has the right to recognition as a person before the law.”
Article 1(1) establishes that: “The States Parties to this Convention undertake to respect the rights and freedoms
recognized herein and to ensure to all persons subject to their jurisdiction the free and full exercise of those rights and freedoms,
without any discrimination for reasons of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
economic status, birth, or any other social condition”.
162
The relevant part of Article 7 establishes that: “The States Parties condemn all forms of violence against women and
agree to pursue, by all appropriate means and without delay, policies to prevent, punish and eradicate such violence and
undertake to: (a) refrain from engaging in any act or practice of violence against women and to ensure that their authorities,
officials, personnel, agents, and institutions act in conformity with this obligation; (b) apply due diligence to prevent,
investigate and impose penalties for violence against women; (c) include in their domestic legislation penal, civil,
administrative and any other type of provisions that may be needed to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women
and to adopt appropriate administrative measures where necessary […].”
163