TOKYO, Japan — Japan's top court ruled on Wednesday that a defunct eugenics law under which thousands of people were forcibly sterilized between 1948 and 1996 was unconstitutional.The Supreme Court also declared that a 20-year statute of limitations could not be applied, paving the way for compensation claims from victims after years of legal battles.
That dark history was thrust back under the spotlight in 2018 when a woman in her 60s sued the government over a procedure she had undergone at age 15, opening the floodgates for similar lawsuits.The government, for its part, 'wholeheartedly' apologized after legislation was passed in 2019 stipulating a lump-sum payment of 3.2 million yen per victim.However, survivors say that was too little to match the severity of their suffering and took their fight to court.