Report: Two 9-year-olds among 25,000 victims of Japan’s WW2-era forced sterilisation law

A parliamentary report in Japan has unveiled that among the 25,000 individuals who were sterilized under the country’s eugenics law, two nine-year-old children were included, as revealed by the probe. The law, which was effective from 1948 to 1996, subjected the young boy and girl to sterilization, with the boy being sterilized in the 1960s and the girl in the 1970s.

The report highlights that the majority of patients were deceived into believing that they were receiving treatment for illnesses such as anemia or appendix removal. Approximately 65% of the procedures conducted over nearly five decades were performed without obtaining proper consent.

Additionally, the law mandated sterilization as a prerequisite for marriage or admission to welfare facilities. The investigation into the law also uncovered cases of radiation exposure and uterus removal.

The comprehensive 1,400-page study had been eagerly awaited and was initiated in June 2020 under a law aimed at providing some relief to the victims. The 2019 legislation also pledged state compensation of ¥3.2 million ($22,000) to the victims. However, many victims have filed lawsuits seeking higher compensation from the government.

The eugenics law in Japan, which spanned 48 years, enforced operations on individuals considered “inferior” to prevent them from having children. Most of the targeted individuals had intellectual disabilities, mental illnesses, or hereditary disorders.

According to a high school textbook from 1975 cited in the parliamentary report, the government used the eugenics law to enhance the genetic predisposition of the entire population in the name of improving the country’s eugenics.

The legislation, which aimed to address Japan’s population growth and food shortages after World War II, was unanimously adopted by lawmakers, as reported by Japan Times.

An 80-year-old victim of forced sterilization referred to the findings of the parliamentary report, stating that it revealed the government’s “terrible actions of deceiving children.” The victim, using the pseudonym Saburo Kita, underwent the procedure at the age of 14. Kita expressed the hope that the government would acknowledge their suffering and address the issue seriously instead of concealing it.