Japanese PM apologizes to victims of forced sterilization

Jul 17. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday apologized to victims of forced sterilization after the Supreme Court earlier this month ordered the government to compensate victims of the practice, which had been in place for decades in the country and affected thousands of people.

“I take the recent Supreme Court ruling very seriously. Many people have suffered tremendous physical and mental pain due to the old Eugenics Protection Act,” Kishida said during a meeting with plaintiffs and lawyers, where he expressed his “remorse” and offered the government’s apologies for what happened.

The Japanese prime minister has acknowledged that the government has “an extremely serious responsibility”, including the way it enforced the law. “Eugenic surgery is a violation of human rights that should never occur and undermines people’s dignity,” he said, according to public broadcaster NHK.

“We deeply regret that at least 25,000 people suffered the serious consequences of sterilization in the 48 years between 1948 and 1996 because they were suffering from an illness or disability,” added Kishida, who said that “the pain and long suffering of the victims” is something that “cannot be postponed” and ordered progress to be made on the terms of compensation.

In early July, the Japanese Supreme Court ruled on recent lawsuits filed against the state for carrying out such surgeries between the 1950s and 1970s, clarifying that there is no statute of limitations for such crimes. It also ruled for the first time that the aforementioned Eugenics Protection Act is unconstitutional.

The government is expected to pay around 11 million yen (around 63,200 euros) to each victim and 2.2 million yen (around 12,630 euros) to the wife of a man who is among the victims of this practice and who has since died. These amounts are higher than those previously stipulated by the courts.

Japanese government figures suggest that some 25,000 people were sterilized under the law, of whom 16,000 were subjected to the practice without their consent.