Japan forcibly sterilised her to prevent ‘inferior’ offspring. Now she wants justice and compensation
The now-defunct eugenics law was based on Nazi Germany rules and resulted in 25,000 compulsory sterilisations until it was abolished in 1996
A woman in her 60s filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking 11 million yen (US$101,000) in damages and an apology from the Japanese government over her forced sterilisation when she was a teenager under a now-defunct eugenics law.
The woman in Miyagi Prefecture filed the first such suit in Japan at the Sendai District Court, saying the state failed to legislate for relief measures despite the serious human rights infringement. She also claimed the 1948 law denied human equality and the right to pursue happiness and was therefore unconstitutional.
Asked about the lawsuit, Health Minister Katsunobu Kato declined to comment, saying he was not aware of the details of the case.
The state has not apologised or provided compensation to the around 25,000 people who were sterilised due to mental or other illness under the law that remained in force until 1996, saying it was legal at the time.
In 2016, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recommended that Japan adopt “specific measures aimed at providing all victims of forced sterilisations with assistance to access legal remedies and provide them with compensation and rehabilitative services.”
Court documents show the woman developed psychological problems following cleft palate surgery in 1958 and was diagnosed with a mental disorder at age 15 in 1972.