Discrimination and prejudice against Hansen's disease still persists, so the government has decided to set up a study group made up of former patients and human rights education experts.
Our policy is to put together recommendations to the country to eliminate discrimination.
The government forcibly quarantined patients with Hansen's disease in sanatoriums based on the law from 1890, and continued the quarantine policy until 1996 even after it was found that the infectivity was extremely weak.
On the 22nd, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Justice, and former patients and their families exchanged opinions on discrimination and prejudice that remain in educational settings.
Among them, an inappropriate class was held at an elementary school in Fukuoka Prefecture in 2013, and a case was introduced in which a child wrote in his impressions, such as "If a friend has Hansen's disease, I will leave him."
The impression is that the teacher then sent it to the sanatorium where the ex-patient lives.
A former patient who participated pointed out, "At the tip of the iceberg, these problems are still continuing nationwide. Discrimination and prejudice may occur because teachers and others are not aware of leprosy."
The national government has a policy of setting up a study group made up of former patients, human rights education experts, and historians to eliminate discrimination and prejudice, and the study group will put together recommendations to the country regarding the ideal way of enlightenment. I am.