Japanese to compensate victims of forced sterilisation

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan on Wednesday passed a law compensating tens of thousands of people who were sterilised, often without their consent, under a government programme to prevent the birth of "inferior descendants" that remained in effect until 1996.

Many of the victims were physically or cognitively disabled, and others suffered from mental illness, leprosy - now a curable affliction known as Hansen's disease - or simply had behavioural problems.