Activists: Uzbekistan orders forced sterilizations
A human rights group and a think-tank alleged Tuesday that Uzbekistan's government has instructed health workers to surgically sterilize women as part of a campaign to reduce the birth rate of the authoritarian ex-Soviet nation.
Uzbek health officials did not answer repeated telephone calls from The Associated Press to seek their comment about the allegation. However, previous human rights, United Nations and US State Department reports also have alleged that women in the central Asian country have been forced or duped into sterilization. (AP)
