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Kyodo

Former leprosy patients urged the state on Thursday to step up efforts to restore their honour and that of deceased sufferers as they attended a government-sponsored ceremony remembering those subjected to years of discrimination in Japan due to widespread prejudices against their disease.
From the Supreme Court, Secretary General Yukihiko Imasaki attended the annual event for the first time, following the top court’s apology in April to former Hansen’s disease patients for the judiciary trying sufferers at segregated facilities for years without properly examining the need to do so.
Japan’s top court offers apology for ‘unlawful’ treatment of leprosy patients, 15 years after acknowledgement of wrongdoing
The apology came exactly 20 years after the country abolished the 1931 law that gave a legal basis for segregating patients of the mildly contagious disease. The segregation of leprosy patients at sanatoriums continued to be state policy until 1996.
Despite the repeal of the law, leprosy patients still face discrimination today, with some of them being urged by family members not to speak publicly or refrain from visiting their old homes.
As of May 1, 1,577 people still lived in the 13 national sanatoriums in the country, according to the health ministry.
With the average age of the former patients at 84.8, they are calling for the government to ensure there are a sufficient number of doctors at the sanatoriums and preserve the facilities to pass down the history of segregation to future generations.
‘Like entering a prison’: Japan’s leprosy sufferers sue government for decades of pain
A total of 568 families of the former patients have sued the state for damages and an apology, arguing that they too faced the same prejudice and discrimination the patients faced under the state’s segregation policy.
In a report released on April 25, the Supreme Court said segregated sessions, such as at sanatoriums and other facilities for leprosy patients, were held in 95 cases between 1948 and 1972. It determined that trying the patients outside standard courtrooms is “strongly suspected” of having contravened the Constitution’s guarantee of equality, and apologised for hurting their character and dignity.


Japan’s leprosy sufferers seek ‘honour’ after government apology for years of discrimination

Leprosy patients still face discrimination in Japan, despite the repeal of the segregation law. Photo: Reuters

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