An unnamed woman in her 60s filed a lawsuit[Kyodo report] against the Japanese government Tuesday seeking 11 million yen (approximately USD $101,000) in damages for her forced sterilization at the age of 150because of her intellectual disability under a now-repealed eugenics law.
The National Eugenic Law [text, in Japanese] entered into effect in 1940. The law [Japan Times backgrounder] restricted access to birth control and promoted genetic screening to identify defects in unborn children. However, the compulsory sterilization provision only applied to infants with “inherited mental diseases.” Following World War II, a new, but similar sterilization law went into effect in 1948. An estimated 25,000 people were sterilized under these two laws. In 1996, new laws entered into effect that abolished the compulsory sterilization of children born with any physical of mental defect.
The woman argues [BBC report] that the operation was a violation of her human rights. Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato [official profile] has not yet commented on the lawsuit, stating that he has not yet received the court documents. The Japanese Health Ministry [official website] has stated that the Japanese government would like to meet individually with surviving victims of forced sterilization to discuss their needs, but would not put into effect any blanket measures which would address all of them.
The Japanese government also stated that it would not open a broad investigation of what transpired while these sterilization laws were in effect as many of the documents concerning these sterilizations have since been destroyed. The Japanese government has also never issued an apology or offered compensation for those harmed by the law.
The lawsuit is the first time a victim who was sterilized under the law for mental disabilities has filed suit against the government.
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