TOKYO, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday vowed to fight discriminatory practices against former leprosy patients through governmental measures, with the pledge coming on the heels of new laws put in place to offer relief payments to those who have suffered from years of discrimination and prejudice here.
At a meeting held at his office in Tokyo, the Japanese prime minister met with families of former leprosy patients, some of whom have suffered from years of abuse and discrimination under Japan's now-defunct controversial segregation policy related to the state's leprosy prevention laws.
The discrimination suffered by patients with leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, included forced social isolation in sanatoriums, or special "medical clinics," which was just part of the standard practice to address the disease under the Japanese government's contentious leprosy prevention laws of 1907, 1931 and 1953, the last of which was only repealed in 1996.
The relief payments were enacted into law having been compiled by a group of cross-party lawmakers and clearing the lower chamber, on Nov. 15 by Japan's upper house of parliament.
As well as offering the government's deep apologies to the families of former leprosy sufferers in a preamble, the law mandates that spouses, parents and children of former patients will be offered a lump sum of 1.8 million yen (16,500 U.S. dollars) as a "relief payment."
Other relatives who lived with the former sufferers of the disease, such as siblings, will be given about 1.3 million yen (12,000 U.S. dollars), under the new law.
