Japan diet OKs bill to compensate leprosy patients’ relatives

November 15, 2019

Tokyo--The Diet, Japan's parliament, on Friday enacted bills to compensate relatives of former leprosy patients and restore their honor damaged through discrimination.

The two bills, including one to pay up to 1.8 million yen in damages per head, were adopted unanimously at a plenary meeting of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber. The other one is for revising a law aimed at resolving leprosy-related issues.

Both will take effect soon. After that, the health ministry will accept applications for the compensation, with payments seen starting by the end of January next year.

The preamble of the compensation bill says the Diet and the government offer "deep apologies" with a feeling of repentance and remorse toward family members who suffered prejudice and discrimination under the country's past isolation policy for leprosy patients.

The maximum compensation is higher than the maximum of 1.3 million yen that the government was ordered to pay by Kumamoto District Court in June.

To parents, children and spouses of former patients, 1.8 million yen will be provided. The amount stands at 1.3 million yen for brothers and sisters, as well as for nephews, nieces, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who have lived with former patients.

Those eligible include relatives who lived in Taiwan or the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II or in Okinawa during the postwar U.S. occupation, which lasted until 1972. Those in the southernmost prefecture were not covered by the Kumamoto ruling.

The deadline for applications is five years from the enforcement. The number of eligible people is about 24,000, with the total payments seen reaching 40 billion yen, according to a ministry estimate.

In the landmark ruling, the Kumamoto court ordered the government to pay between 300,000 yen and 1.3 million yen, excluding legal fees, to 541 of the 561 plaintiffs. In July, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered "a sincere apology" to the family members and promised not to appeal.

The bills, introduced by a nonpartisan group of lawmakers, cleared the House of Representatives on Tuesday.Jiji Press