Japan PM apologises for forced sterilisations
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Japan PM apologises for forced sterilisations

Kishida meets with victims after court orders compensation for acts committed under old eugenics law

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expresses an apology at the premier’s office in Tokyo on July 3, after the Supreme Court ordered the government to pay damages to plaintiffs who were forced to undergo sterilisation in the 1950s to 1970s. He repeated the apology during a meeting with some of the victims on Wednesday. (Kyodo Photo)
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expresses an apology at the premier’s office in Tokyo on July 3, after the Supreme Court ordered the government to pay damages to plaintiffs who were forced to undergo sterilisation in the 1950s to 1970s. He repeated the apology during a meeting with some of the victims on Wednesday. (Kyodo Photo)

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida apologised on Wednesday to victims of forced sterilisation surgery under a now-defunct “eugenics protection” law, two weeks after Japan’s top court ruled it was unconstitutional and the government must pay damages to plaintiffs.

During their meeting at the prime minister’s office, Kishida told the victims, “The government, which enforced the law, bears extremely grave responsibility. I am deeply sorry, and I offer an apology on behalf of the government.”

It is the first time that Kishida had apologised directly to the victims since the Supreme Court said on July 3 that the statute of limitations of 20 years for an unlawful act does not apply to cases involving the law, in its landmark ruling on five lawsuits. The law was repealed in 1996.

In front of more than 100 plaintiffs, lawyers and supporters, Kishida said, “I have instructed an investigation to reach a conclusion as soon as possible on the form of compensation. I will do everything in my power to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

In what is often labelled as the worst human rights violation in Japan’s post-World War II history, the law allowed people with intellectual disabilities, mental illnesses or hereditary disorders to be sterilised without their consent to prevent the birth of “inferior” offspring.

At the meeting with the victims, Kishida said, “It is with deep regret that at least about 25,000 people have suffered the grave harm of being sterilised”, under the eugenics law, which was in effect between 1948 and 1996.

The plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuits at five district courts in Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe, were among a total of 39 people who have sought damages in similar lawsuits at 11 district courts and a branch court since 2018.

In four of the five cases, the high courts ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the government to pay 11 million yen ($69,500) to 16.5 million yen to each victim and 2.2 million yen to a spouse of a deceased victim.

The amounts were far larger than the one-off state compensation of 3.2 million yen given to each person who underwent forced sterilisation under a law enacted in April 2019. Around 1,100 were certified to receive the money.

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