Remorse, Apology to Be Clarified in Relief Bill for Sterilization Victims


Tokyo, Oct. 31 (Jiji Press)--A task force of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition ally, Komeito, came up on Wednesday with the outline of a bill to redress the suffering of people who were forced to undergo sterilization surgeries.

According to the outline, the bill will show "remorse and apology" for what the government had done for those people, many of whom have disabilities, under the now-defunct eugenic protection law.

Meanwhile, the group of lawmakers avoided referring to the unconstitutionality of the law in the bill, saying, "We, as legislative members, have found it difficult to write something about (the constitutionality matter) in the bill while lawsuits seeking the government's damages payment are going on."

The subject of the apology clause is likely to be "we," not the government or state, so as not to specify who should be legally held responsible, informed sources said.

The outline says that the purport of the relief bill is to show a deep remorse and offer an apology to people for their considerable physical and psychological suffering from receiving the surgeries under the inhumane law.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]

Jiji Press