Japan has apologised to tens of thousands of victims of the country's forced sterilisation legislation.

An estimated 25,000 people were sterilised without their consent under the 1948 Eugenics Protection Law, which was in place until 1996.

It allowed doctors to sterilise those with disabilities and was designed to "prevent the birth of poor-quality descendants".

The law was quietly renamed the Maternity Protection Law in 1996, when compulsory sterilisation of disabled people was abolished.

Japan's government had until recently maintained the sterilisations were legal at the time.


But it is now promising one-off compensation worth 3.2m yen (£22,100) for each victim.

On Wednesday, Japan's parliament passed legislation to provide for the redress measures.

It acknowledged that many people were forced to have operations to remove their reproductive organs or radiation treatment to get sterilised, causing them tremendous mental or physical pain.

Image: Shinzo Abe's government has apologised to victims

Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said he was offering "sincere remorse and heartfelt apology" to the victims, many of who are now elderly.

In a statement issued later, Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe said: "We will do all we can to achieve a society where no one is discriminated against, whether they have illnesses or handicaps, and live together while respecting each other's personality and individuality."

Government and opposition politicians were prompted to act following a series of legal cases by victims coming forward after decades of silence.

They are seeking about 30m yen each (£207,300) and claim the government's implementation of the eugenics law violated their right to self-determination, reproductive health and equality.

The government's own compensation measures are too small, the victims taking legal action claim.

In addition to the forced sterilisations, more than 8,000 others were sterilised with consent - although likely under pressure - while nearly 60,000 women had abortions because of hereditary illnesses.

Among them were around 10,000 leprosy patients who were confined to isolated institutions until 1996, when the leprosy prevention legislation was also abolished.

Japan's government has already offered compensation and an apology for the forced isolation policy.