(Update) Japan Forced Sterilization Ruling: Japan Govt “will promptly pay compensation based on the ruling,” says Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi

From Jiji

July 3 2024

TOKYO – Japan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday awarded damages to victims of forced sterilizations conducted under the now-defunct eugenic protection law. 

Handing down a unified ruling on five related damages suits, the top court’s Grand Bench, presided over by Chief Justice Saburo Tokura, decided not to apply the 20-year statute of limitations for damages claims, a focal point of the case. It effectively handed total victory to the plaintiffs.

The top court found the old law, which was used to force people with disabilities to undergo sterilizations, unconstitutional and acknowledged the government’s liability to pay damages to plaintiffs in the five lawsuits.

Applying the statute of limitations would be “an abuse of rights and a violation of good faith,” the court said in the unanimous ruling of its 15 justices.

 “We will promptly pay compensation based on the ruling,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference after the Supreme Court’s decision.