Children as young as nine were victims of Japan sterilisation law

Two nine-year-olds were among tens of thousands of Japanese forcibly sterilised under the country’s post-World War Two eugenics law, a long-awaited 1,400-page parliament report revealed Monday. The results were based on a government probe that started in June 2020.

The controversial law was in place for 48 years, before being repealed in 1996. It is widely recognised as a dark chapter in Japan’s post-war recovery, as around 25,000 people at the time were compelled to undergo operations to prevent them having kids deemed “inferior”.

A number of them suffered mental illness, or physical or cognitive disabilities.

Victims Operated Without Consent

The parliament report admitted scores of people were subjected to medical procedures – with over 16,000 of them being performed without consent. Some victims at the time were told they were undergoing appendix operations or other routine procedures, it mentioned.

Local governments then were able to arbitrarily assign the operation.

An 80-year-old survivor, who had to forcibly undergo the procedure at 14, told local media the Monday report was proof Japan had deceived its children. The nine-year-old victims included a boy and a girl, the study found.

Japan Was Too Slow

Critics of the report, however, argue it does not explain the reason behind the creation of the controversial law, nor address why it took Japan nearly 50 years to scrap the law.

The study’s wider findings have triggered outrage on social media. While one netizen described the happenings as sickening, another criticised the government for being too slow to repeal the law, while expressing hope Tokyo would also look at laws that limit the rights of women and the LGBTQ community.

In 2019, Tokyo made an apology for the forced sterilisations and agreed to pay each survivor $28,600. Shinzo Abe, the then-prime minister, said the law caused “great suffering” to its victims.

Germany, Sweden, and the US are also counted among countries that have had forced sterilisation policies. They have also apologised for the happenings and compensated the surviving victims.