Japan Press Weekly

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2024 October 9 - 15 [POLITICS]

New law to compensate forced eugenic sterilization victims unanimously enacted

A new law to compensate victims who were forced to undergo eugenic sterilization operations under the former Eugenic Protection Law (1948-1996) was unanimously approved and enacted at the House of Councilors plenary session on October 8.

The House of Councilors, following the House of Representatives, adopted a resolution offering an apology to the victims and promising to work to compensate the victims for damages and eliminate eugenic ideology and eugenic-based discrimination.

The newly enacted law was drawn up by a cross-party lawmakers’ team in response to the July Supreme Court ruling which recognized the former Eugenic Protection Law as unconstitutional and ordered the government to pay compensation to the victims.

At an Upper House Cabinet Committee meeting on the previous day, JCP lawmaker Kurabayashi Akiko, in support of the bipartisan lawmakers-drafted bill, pointed out that due to the government’s stubborn attitude of refusing to admit to its failure, the victims were forced to fight a prolonged court battle. She stressed the need to implement measures to discredit eugenic ideology without delay.

The new law in its preamble requires the Diet and the government to offer a “deep apology” for their act of enforcing the former Eugenic Protection Law in violation of the Constitution.

The new relief law will offer 15 million yen to victims of forced sterilization and five million yen to their spouses. The law will provide two million yen in a lump-sum benefit to forced abortion victims.

Past related article:
> Supreme court rules forced sterilization unconstitutional, ordering gov’t to compensate victims [July 4, 2024]