Hansen’s Disease Human Rights

Yoon & Yang engages in various legal activities to correct the history of human rights violations suffered by victims of Hansen’s disease and to seek compensation for their suffering.

Since the enactment of the “Prevention of Leprosy” law by the Japanese government in 1907, Hansen’s disease patients were subjected to forced isolation and eradication policies for about 90 years. These policies led to their forced internment in places like Sorokdo Rehabilitation Center in Korea, Kagoshima Sanatorium in Japan, and Rakusei Sanatorium in Taiwan, where they were isolated from society and endured forced labor and violence. Forced sterilizations and abortions performed on them were representative human rights violations intended to deny and eradicate their humanity under state silence. Yoon & Yang empathizes with the pain of Hansen’s disease victims and strives to correct the long history of discrimination and human rights violations they endured.