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https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/03/court-orders-japanese-government-to-pay-damages-over-forced-sterilisations>
"Japan’s supreme court has ordered the government to pay damages to dozens of
people who were forcibly sterilised under a now-defunct eugenics law, saying
the practice had violated their constitutional rights.
Wednesday’s ruling by the country’s highest court marks a major victory for the
39 plaintiffs, and thousands of other people with illnesses and genetic and
mental disorders who had undergone procedures without their consent, mostly
between the 1950s and 1970s.
The compensation claim rested on whether the court would accept the
government’s argument that the plaintiffs could no longer seek redress as a
20-year statute of limitations applying to the cases had expired.
The 1948 eugenic protection law, which was not abolished until 1996, allowed
doctors to carry out forced sterilisations to “prevent the generation of poor
quality descendants”.
Japan’s government has acknowledged that 16,500 people – some as young as nine
– were forcibly sterilised under the law. A further 8,500 who gave their
consent were likely to have come under intense pressure to do so.
All 15 supreme court judges found the eugenics law to be unconstitutional, the
Kyodo news agency reported. They said the legislation violated article 13 of
the constitution, which protects people against undergoing physically invasive
procedures against their will, and article 14, which stipulates the right to
equality.
One of the victims, Saburo Kita, was persuaded to undergo a vasectomy when he
was 14 and living in a facility for children with behavioural problems. “I have
had an agonising 66 years because of government surgery,” Kita, who uses a
pseudonym, said before the ruling.
“I was robbed of my life and want it back,” added the 81-year-old, who only
told his wife about his ordeal shortly before she died in 2013.
A government document from 1953 said physical restraint, anaesthesia and even
“deception” could be used to facilitate the operations. A small number of
forced sterilisations were conducted in the 1980s and 1990s before the law was
abolished.
Japan was forced to confront its connection with eugenics in 2018, when a woman
in her 60s sued the government over a procedure she had undergone at 15 due to
an intellectual disability, prompting a flood of similar lawsuits.
The government “wholeheartedly” apologised after legislation was passed in 2019
stipulating a lump-sum payment of ¥3.2m (about £15,750 today) for each victim.
The then-prime minister, Shinzō Abe, voiced “sincere regret”, adding: “During
the period the law was in effect, many people were subjected to operations that
made them unable to have children based on their having a disability or another
chronic illness, causing them great suffering.”
Survivors said the sum did not match the severity of their suffering and took
their fight to court."
Via Whuffo and Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
