Japan’s Supreme Court has ruled that a former eugenics law is unconstitutional. It was under this law that thousands of people were forcibly sterilised between 1948 and 1996, according to local media.
The supreme court also ruled out the application of a twenty year statute of limitations on compensation claims, which became a major victory for the victims of several decades.
Japan’s highest court is expected to pass judgement on Wednesday to change the eugenics law in which about 16,500 persons were forcibly sterilized by government causing the victims decades of pain.
Five appeal cases are being heard by The Supreme Court today. Victims who have received different decisions from various lower courts are looking for compensation and an apology. This decision will be made at 3 pm local time (0600 GMT).
Another 8,500 people, according to authorities, were “consensually” sterilised but lawyers say those cases too could be considered “de facto forced” as individuals felt coerced into accepting them.
Physical restraint, anesthesia and even “deception” was included in a government notice in1953 as means that could be employed during surgery.
“I have suffered for 66 years due to surgery by the government; I want my life back I am deprived.” The man belongs to Saburo Kita and uses an alias name.
He was one among many children who underwent this procedure. Kita was convinced that he should undergo vasectomy when he was only fourteen years old at a facility where problem children were kept
Years later when he married he never told his wife about it until shortly before her death in 2013,
Kita said last year during a news conference: “Until such time that the government admits its fault and shoulder responsibility i can’t accept anything.”
Apology
It slowed down through the 1980s and 1990s before being abolished entirely in 1996.
A woman aged over 60 brought this dark history into the public eye in 2018 by suing the government over an operation she had at the age of fifteen which eventually led to a vast number of lawsuits.
After this law was passed in 2019, the government completely took responsibility for its action and “wholeheartedly” apologised, with the victims receiving a one-time payment of 3.2 million yen ($20,000 today) each.
Still, according to survivors, this amount is too little compared to what they have been through their entire life and hence have taken their fight to court.
Several other cases are still pending before lower courts besides today’s Supreme Court ruling.
All regional courts unanimously held that Japan’s eugenics law violates its constitution.
On whether claims can be made beyond twenty years’ statute of limitations for these offences, however judges were divided
Some said that such limitation would be extremely severe and unfair on the part of defendants requiring payments from state while others dismissed cases calling it already time barred.
Basically, if the Supreme Court decides that statute of limitations are inapplicable, all plaintiffs of subsequent cases, victims who have not sued and do not even know that their rights were violated will be affected. (Kita’s lawyer Naoto Sekiya as quoted in AFP)
Some critics believe eugenics legislation may have contributed to some long-lasting biases toward people with impairments.
Sekiya said that “the ruling will hopefully create a new era for the Government to take concrete measures to get rid of this kind of eugenic mindset.”
