JAPAN Tokyo. The Supreme Court has ruled that forced sterilizations are unconstitutional and that victims must be compensated

In a landmark ruling, the 15 judges accepted the legal battle of the victims, almost 25,000 people with disabilities or chronic illnesses who were sterilized between 1948 and 1996. They could obtain compensation of up to just under 19,000 euros, but the real battle is for dignity.

Tokyo () – Japan’s Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional the controversial eugenics law under which more than 16,500 disabled people were forcibly sterilized between 1950 and 1990. The 15 judges also ordered the government to compensate the 11 victims involved in the five landmark cases that were the subject of the appeal process. The historic ruling issued today, after a long legal battle, marks the end of a decades-long struggle to obtain justice for the victims, who in addition to money are also asking the authorities for a public apology.

After years of litigation, a 2019 law finally granted compensation to surviving victims, but some continued to fight for a higher sum. In four of the cases, the central government had appealed against compensation awards handed down by lower-level judges. In the fifth case, however, two women had appealed against the dismissal of their claims because, according to the judges, they had become statute-barred.

Nearly 25,000 disabled or chronically ill people were sterilised in Japan between 1948 and 1996 under a eugenics law that was repealed that year. About 16,000 of these operations were reportedly carried out without consent, including on minors, including two nine-year-old children, one boy and one girl. The data reveal the widespread use of the practice in the past and are contained in a 1,400-page report that was published in June last year and submitted to parliament, sparking fierce controversy and discussion. Although authorities say the other 8,500 people gave their consent to the procedures, lawyers argue they were “de facto forced” to undergo the surgery because of the pressure they were under at the time.

The Supreme Court also ruled that the 20-year statute of limitations cannot apply to compensation claims in cases of forced sterilization. Lawyers argued that applying the statute of limitations would have prevented some of the victims, especially those sterilized without their knowledge and who learned of the operation too late compared to the statutory deadline, from being able to appeal for justice.

Forced sterilizations were carried out mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, during the post-war baby boom. Many of those forcibly sterilized had physical and intellectual disabilities, mental health problems or chronic diseases such as leprosy. Physical coercion, anesthesia and even what has been called “deception” were permitted for these operations.

Under a law passed in 2019 following one of the lawsuits, surviving victims can receive up to 3.2 million yen (just under 18,500 euros) each. Since then, around 1,300 people have filed a claim, and so far 1,100 of them have been compensated. However, for some of the victims the sum of money cannot exceed a certain threshold and is less than the maximum set by the judges.

“When I found out I could never be a mother… My heart broke,” she told the BBC In an interview, Yumi Suzuki, born with cerebral palsy and forcibly sterilised when she was just 12, is one of 11 plaintiffs whose case has been brought to court. “I don’t want money. I want people to know,” she said, “what happened to us. So that it never happens again. I want disabled people to be treated fairly. We are not things. We are human beings.”