2024-07-17 20:38:13
“It is the government’s responsibility to enforce a law that is unconstitutional. I sincerely regret this and offer an apology on behalf of the government.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida bowed his head and apologized to victims of forced sterilization of disabled people at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on the 17th. After the Supreme Court of Japan ruled that the Japanese government, which had carried out forced sterilizations on disabled people, must compensate them, the Prime Minister, who is the head of the government, said that he would personally apologize to the victims.
On this day, around 130 victims of forced sterilization who filed lawsuits came to the Prime Minister’s Office. The minister in charge has met with the victims to apologize, and the Prime Minister has expressed regret in meetings with reporters, but this is the first time the Prime Minister has apologized to the victims face to face.
The meeting between the prime minister and the victims took place on the occasion of Japan’s Supreme Court’s decision on the 3rd that the old Eugenics Protection Act, which forced sterilizations on people with disabilities for about 50 years after World War II, was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court rejected the Japanese government’s argument that the right to claim compensation expired after 20 years, saying that it “significantly violated the spirit of respect for individual dignity and personality,” and confirmed the plaintiff’s decision.
According to a report published by the Japanese Diet last year, 24,993 people with hereditary diseases and intellectual disabilities were sterilized under this law between 1948 and 1996, and 16,475 of them were forced to undergo the surgery.
Prime Minister Kishida said in an interview that day, “Considering the enormous pain you have suffered due to past surgeries that trampled on your personal dignity and were an unacceptable violation of human rights, this is a task that cannot be delayed in its resolution.”
A disabled victim who attended the interview said, “There are many people who cannot speak up, so I hope you apologize to them as well. Please make a law so that no one else will have to go through the same suffering as we did.” Another victim said, “I was sterilized without knowing it, and I was bedridden for 20 years due to the aftereffects,” and complained, “The country made a strange law, and I am still being discriminated against.”
The Japanese Diet plans to push for a resolution to apologize to the victims in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling and also enact new laws for compensation.
Tokyo = Correspondent Lee Sang-hoon [email protected]
-
- great
- 0dog
-
- I’m so sad
- 0dog
-
- I’m angry
- 0dog
-
- I recommend it
- dog
Hot news right now
2024-07-17 20:38:13