Japan Press Weekly

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2008 June 11 - 17 [WELFARE]

New law to relieve former leprosy patients enacted

Measures to end the long-standing issue of former leprosy sufferers and relieve them became law after the House of Councilors approved the Leprosy Bill on June 11.

The legislation will make it possible for the 13 state-run leprosy sanatoriums throughout the country to open their facilities to residents of the area.

Former leprosy patients and their advocacy groups have waged a strenuous struggle, including a signature campaign for the petition calling for the sanatorium to be retained and developed as a facility available to the general public. They have submitted to the Diet more than 910,000 signatures in support of the call.

Following the enactment of the law, representatives of former leprosy patients held a news conference and stated, “Finally, the sanatorium is resuming its place in society in name and in reality through frequent exchanges taking place between the sanatorium and the nearby community. The new law is the first step to open the sanatorium to society.”

Since before WWII, people suffering from leprosy were forcibly removed and isolated from society by the local authorities and faced severe discrimination from the public.

Despite the fact that the disease became curable shortly after WWII, patients had difficulty in returning to society because the Japanese government continued the policy of putting them in isolation with forced abortions and sterilizations until 1996 when the Leprosy Prevention Law was finally abolished.

Former leprosy patients have demanded that sanatorium residents who have been forced to endure the harsh government policy be ensured life with dignity and equal medial-care services in society so that they can live in peace without being isolated from society. - Akahata, June 12, 2008