Japan’s Supreme Court has ruled that a now-repealed eugenics law, which mandated the forced sterilization of 16,500 disabled individuals between the 1950s and 1990s, is unconstitutional.

The government has also been ordered to compensate 11 victims from five cases that reached the Court of Appeal. Importantly, the Court ruled that the 20-year statute of limitations cannot be applied to compensation claims related to forced sterilization cases. Lawyers argued that many victims, particularly those unknowingly sterilized, discovered the procedure too late to meet the legal deadline.

The Eugenics Protection Law was repealed in 1996.

Wednesday’s decision, as reported by the BBC, concludes a decades-long struggle for justice by victims seeking compensation and an apology from the authorities. A 2019 law provided compensation to surviving victims, but some continued to fight for larger sums.

In four of the cases, the government had appealed lower court compensation decisions, and in the fifth, two claimants had appealed the dismissal of their claims.

Under a law enacted in 1948, after World War II, approximately 25,000 people—many with hereditary disabilities—underwent surgeries to prevent them from having children considered “inferior.” Some victims were as young as nine years old. The Japanese government acknowledged that 16,500 of these procedures were performed without consent. Although authorities claim the remaining 8,500 people consented to the operations, lawyers argued they were effectively coerced due to societal pressure.

Forced sterilizations were most common in the 1960s and 1970s, during the post-war population boom. Many forcibly sterilized individuals had physical and mental disabilities, mental health issues, or chronic diseases such as leprosy. Physical restraint, anesthesia, and even deceit were permitted for these operations, according to a 1953 government memo.

Under a law passed in 2019, surviving victims can receive 3.2 million yen (£18,350) each.