Japan Press Weekly

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2012 June 20 - 26 [WELFARE]

‘Comprehensive support’ bill for the disabled forcibly enacted

The House of Councilors welfare committee on June 19 passed a comprehensive support bill for the disabled after only 3 hours of discussion with support from the Democratic, Liberal Democratic, and Komei parties.

The new law maintains the current law’s “beneficiary-pays” principle which imposes heavier burdens on those who have more serious disabilities.

Prior to the vote, Japanese Communist Party Upper House member Tamura Tomoko expressed her opposition to the bill, criticizing the committee for taking a vote without listening to testimonies of concerned parties.

More than 100 disabled people and their supporters observed the committee meeting, and around 350 took part in a protest in front of the Diet building.

One of the protesters, Igarashi Ryo, 38, said, “The new law is almost the same as the current law. We need to keep pushing the government to create a better law and to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”