The government will draw up a new action plan to combat discrimination and prejudice against people with disabilities, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday at the first meeting of a new panel on the issue.
The panel, which involves all ministers, was set up in response to a Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that the now-defunct eugenic protection law, which forced sterilizations on the grounds of disabilities, was unconstitutional.
Through the panel, the government will raise public awareness on the issue and strengthen education to eradicate ideas on eugenics and discrimination against people with disabilities.
“The discrimination, abuse, isolation, violation and special treatment that people with disabilities have been facing must not exist,” Kishida stressed at the meeting.
Kishida instructed Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi and Ayuko Kato, minister of state for policies related to children, to promptly settle pending sterilization cases by concluding conciliation agreements.
The establishment of the panel was decided on Friday, the eighth anniversary of a deadly knife attack at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care home for people with disabilities in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Kishida promised to tackle the issue across all government agencies on July 17, when he met with plaintiffs in litigation against the government over forced sterilizations.