Govt needs to own errors on eugenics

Draft legislation compiled by a suprapartisan group of lawmakers to provide relief for people who were forcibly sterilised under the now-defunct Eugenic Protection Law falls short of holding the government responsible for their suffering.

More than 20 years after the law was amended to delete the discriminatory provision authorising forced sterilisation of people with mental disabilities, many of the victims and their relatives are ageing, and most of the records of their sterilisation surgeries are believed to have been lost. Since last January, when a woman in her 60s from Miyagi Prefecture filed the first-ever lawsuit seeking government compensation for being subjected to forced sterilisation under the law, about a dozen men and women have taken their cases to courts across the country. Meanwhile, lawmakers in the Diet, including those from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-komeito coalition, have explored legislative steps to provide financial relief for the victims. The legislation calls for a lump sum, although the size of the payment has been left for further discussions. But the draft leaves the government’s responsibility for the victims’ suffering unclear. Relief for victims of forced sterilisation under the Eugenic Protection Law should be provided on the basis of acknowledgement by the government of its past policy mistakes.