In a landmark decision, Japan’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to pay suitable compensation to about a dozen victims who were forcibly sterilized under a now-defunct Eugenics Protection Law that was designed to eliminate offspring of people with disabilities. An estimated 25,000 people were sterilized between the 1950s and 1970s without consent to “prevent the birth of poor-quality descendants” under the law. Wednsday’s decision involved 11 of the 39 plaintiffs who fought at five lower courts across Japan. Cases involving the other litigants are still pending. The supreme court said the eugenics the 1948 law was unconstitutional and rejected the government’s claim that the 20-year statute of limitations should prevent it from paying restitution.
