CEDAW/C/89/D/170/2021 measures and to launch an exhaustive investigation aimed at punishing those responsible for the forced sterilization of María Mamérita Mestanza Chávez, which had been committed as part of a massive and systematic government policy targeting poor, Indigenous and rural women. 6 In 2004, the Office of the Public Prosecutor opened an investigation into the forced sterilization of María Mamérita Mestanza Chávez, which was closed in 2009. In 2011, the Office of the Public Prosecutor ordered that the investigation be reopened, arguing that the outcome was not res judicata since the crimes had not been investigated as crimes against humanity. After being closed and reopened several times, the investigation remains pending. On 2 June 2023, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights referred to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights the case of Celia Ramos Durand, 7 who died in 1997, allegedly after a non-consensual sterilization performed as part of the Programme on Reproductive Health and Family Planning. After being closed and reopened several times, the investigation remains pending. 2.5 In 2016, the Office of the Supra-provincial Criminal Prosecutor Specializing in Human Rights and Interculturality initiated investigation No. 14-2016 with the aims of elucidating the forced sterilizations performed between 1993 and 2000 in the various healthcare centres, hospitals and medical stations located in various departments of the State party, and of identifying those responsible for the alleged commission of crimes against life, body and health in a context of serious human rights violations. In 2019, the Office initiated investigation No. 59-2019 against those responsible for the medical personnel, nurses and any other health personnel who had participated as the direct perpetrator or perpetrators of serious human rights violations. On 22 November 2022, the Office submitted to the court a request to expand the complaint at the pretrial investigation stage by broadening the scope of the order of 11 December 2021 to institute pretrial proceedings against Alberto Fujimori and his former health ministers, and by including 2,626 alleged victims in connection with case No. 59-2019. In addition, the Office proposed to take preliminary statements from 2,582 alleged women victims, mostly Indigenous, living in remote areas of the country. In 2023, the Supra-provincial Criminal Court returned the request for expansion to the Office and, on 25 August 2023, the constitutional law chamber, through an amparo procedure, decided to declare null and void the December 2021 order to institute pretrial proceedings. On 24 June 2024, the Supreme Court of Chile decided to expand the grounds for its extradition of former President Alberto Fujimori to include the forced sterilization of women as a serious human rights violation. 2.6 In parallel, on 6 November 2015, by Supreme Decree No. 006-2015-JUS, the State party declared the provision of priority support for the victims of the forced sterilizations performed between 1995 and 2001 to be of national interest and stipulated that a register of victims should be established. On 4 December 2015, by Ministerial Decision No. 0319-2015-JUS, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights established the Registry of Victims of Forced Sterilization 8 with a view to the provision of legal assistance, psychological and social support and comprehensive healthcare for the victims of forced sterilization. 9 In 2018, the State party set up a working group on persons affected by forced sterilizations during the period 1995– 2001, and in 2020 it established a multisectoral working group to examine and __________________ 6 7 8 9 24-19966 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, report No. 71/03, Friendly Settlement: María Mamérita Mestanza Chávez v. Peru, 10 October 2003, para. 14. See Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, merits report No. 287/21. Ministerial Decision No. 0319-2015-JUS, by which the Ministry approved the procedure for entry in the Registry of Victims of Forced Sterilization. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, concluding observations on the combined twenty-second and twenty-third periodic reports of Peru, 23 May 2018 (CERD/C/PER/CO/22-23), para. 26. 3/19