Court: Law on forced sterilizations in Japan was unconstitutional
Under the Law, approximately 16,500 people in Japan were forcibly sterilized between 1948 and 1996. The regulation aimed to prevent the "production of inferior offspring" among people with hereditary intellectual disabilities.
The government will now consider "appropriate" steps, said Government Spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi on a Wednesday. "We will pay compensation in accordance with the ruling," he added. A victim's lawyer welcomed the court's decision. "This was the best judgment we could have hoped for," said lawyer Koji Niizato.
"The whole thing is not yet fully clarified," said today 81-year-old Saburo Kita, who was sterilized against his will during a stay at a home when he was 14. "Together with the lawyers, I will continue to fight." Kita told his wife about the vasectomy only shortly before her death.
According to the Japanese government, an additional 8,500 people who gave their consent for such a procedure were also included in the 16,500 forcibly sterilized. Lawyers for the victims claimed that pressure was exerted on their clients, making them de facto coerced into the sterilization.
The victims were restrained, anesthetized, or "deceived," as stated in a 1953 government document. The Law was abolished in 1996. Since 1980, only a few interventions have been performed.
After the lawsuit of a then 60-year-old forcibly sterilized woman brought the issue back into the public spotlight, the government apologized in 2019 and passed a law granting each victim a lump-sum compensation payment of 3.2 million Yen (around 18,000 Euro). Many victims felt this was insufficient, and more lawsuits were filed.
The court in Tokyo ruled that the forced sterilizations under the Law were unconstitutional, acknowledging the harm inflicted on thousands of victims. This marks a significant shift in Japan's history of forced sterilizations, particularly in the case of people with intellectual disabilities. The ruling serves as a reminder of Japan's past mistreatment and a step towards reconciliation and reparations.
