In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the state to compensate the victims of forced sterilization surgery despite a 20-year statute of limitations, on the basis that the now-defunct eugenics law was unconstitutional.
The top court’s decision offers relief to the victims who had been seeking justice for decades for having been forced to undergo sterilization surgery without their consent or awareness due to their physical and mental disabilities.
It was a unified ruling covering five similar lawsuits initially filed in Osaka, Tokyo, Sendai, Kobe and Sapporo, and the first time the Supreme Court has handed down a decision on forced sterilization.