Japan Forcefully Sterilised 25,000, Including Nine Year Old Children
Two nine-year-old children were among the 25,000 people forcibly sterilised in Japan under its “Post-World War Two Eugenics Law”, a parliament report has revealed.
The law is widely recognised as a dark chapter in Japan’s post-war recovery and was repealed in 1996.
On Monday, parliament released a long-awaited 1,400-page study, based on a government investigation which began in June 2020.
It acknowledged that about 25,000 people had been subjected to operations – more than 16,000 of which were performed without consent.
Some people were told that they were undergoing routine procedures like appendix operations, the report disclosed.
Tokyo apologised in 2019 and agreed to pay each survivor $28,600.
Other countries that have had forced sterilisation policies include Germany, Sweden, and the US.
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They have also apologised and paid reparations to surviving victims.
Japan’s Eugenics Law
The contentious law was in place for 48 years. Under it, people were at times forced to undergo operations to prevent them from having children deemed “inferior”.
As per Japan Times, most of these people had intellectual disabilities, mental illness or hereditary disorders.
The parliamentary report further states that as per a high school textbook from 1975, using the eugenics law, the government was making efforts for the “country’s eugenics to improve and enhance the genetic predisposition of the entire public.”
Japan Times reports that the legislation which was initiated by lawmakers was adopted unanimously. Apart from eugenics, it was also aimed at curbing Japan’s population increase amid food shortages after World War II.
