社説:避難者自殺判決 東電の責任厳しく指摘

August 27, 2014(Mainichi Japan)
Editorial: Ruling on nuclear evacuee suicide holds TEPCO accountable
社説:避難者自殺判決　東電の責任厳しく指摘

The Fukushima District Court ordered Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) to pay some 49 million yen in damages to the family of a 58-year-old woman who killed herself after she was forced to evacuate due to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, dealing a hard blow to the utility.
　福島第１原発事故に伴う避難生活中に自殺した５８歳の女性をめぐる裁判で、慰謝料など約４９００万円を遺族に賠償するよう福島地裁が東京電力に命じた。東電にとって厳しい判断が示された。

It is not uncommon for accountability for suicide to be contested in the courts. Corporations have faced tough rulings in recent years for suicides induced by overwork. And it is amid such a climate that a Fukushima court tackled head-on and recognized a causal link between the stress of evacuation and suicide.
　自殺をめぐる責任の所在が司法の場で争われることは少なくない。近年、過労自殺などで企業側に厳しい判断も出ている。そういった中で、原発事故による避難生活のストレスと自殺の関係が正面から争われ、判決は因果関係を明確に認めた。

While the ruling applies to an individual case, it is bound to have a significant impact on other lawsuits and settlement talks regarding the nuclear disaster.
　個別事例での判断とはいえ、原発事故をめぐる他の訴訟や和解交渉に与える影響は少なくないだろう。

The deceased woman, who had been evacuated from the Fukushima Prefecture town of Kawamata, was at her home for a temporary visit in July 2011 when she killed herself. Her husband and three children brought the damages suit against TEPCO.
　女性は、原発事故後の２０１１年７月、当時、計画的避難区域に指定されていた福島県川俣町の自宅に一時帰宅した際、自殺した。訴えたのは、女性の夫と子供３人だ。

The nuclear disaster had forced the woman to leave the town where she'd grown up and live in evacuation facilities. She had to live away from her children, and became unemployed when the chicken farm where she'd worked was shut down. The close ties she had with her neighbors, with whom she used to share vegetables, was also lost. The court ruled that these stressors, which arose in quick succession in a short period of time, had caused the woman's depressive state.
　原発事故により、女性は生まれて以来ずっと住んできた故郷を離れ、避難生活を余儀なくされた。子供と別居し、働いていた養鶏場の閉鎖で仕事も失った。野菜を融通し合うなど密接な近隣住民とのつながりも失った。短期間に次々と襲ったこうしたストレスが女性を「うつ状態」に至らしめたと判決は認定した。

The woman had suffered from insomnia and had been receiving outpatient treatment for psychosomatic disorder since before the disaster. TEPCO cited this fact as an indication of "the individual's fragility," denying responsibility for the woman's suicide.
　女性には、震災前から不眠などの症状があり、心身症と診断され、通院治療を受けていた。東電側は、「個体側の脆弱（ぜいじゃく）性」として、こうした事情を指摘し、責任を争っていた。

The court, taking the woman's pre-existing condition into consideration, recognized that 80 percent of her suicide was due to stress caused by the nuclear disaster and calculated the compensation amount accordingly.
　判決は、この点も考慮しつつ、自殺の要因の８割は原発事故によるストレスと認め、賠償額を算定した。

The presiding judge also said that TEPCO should have been able to foresee that if radioactive materials spread across a wide area, residents would be forced to evacuate, and that such displaced residents could develop depression or commit suicide from the stress.
　いったん放射性物質が広範囲に飛散すれば、地域の居住者が避難を余儀なくされ、ストレスを受けてうつ病などを発病したり、自殺者も出たりすることを東電は当初から予見可能だったとまで判決は踏み込んだ。

Among evacuees, there are those who are susceptible to stress and those who are less so. It is unacceptable to write victims off as "fragile." Understandably, the ruling has shown consideration for those who are especially vulnerable in disasters.
　避難生活を送る人の中には、ストレスに強い人も弱い人もいる。脆弱性といった言葉で切り捨てることは許されない。判決が示した災害弱者への目配りは理解できる。

An alternative to lawsuits in resolving conflicts surrounding the nuclear disaster is the dispute resolution process through the government's Nuclear Damage Compensation Dispute Resolution Center.
　原発事故をめぐっては、訴訟以外の紛争解決法として、国による原子力損害賠償紛争解決センターの和解仲介手続き（原発ＡＤＲ）がある。

The center pursues TEPCO's accountability not only for suicides but various other cases.
こうした場で、自殺に限らずさまざまな観点から東電の責任が問われている。

There is a wide range of thinking on what constitutes the appropriate range of compensation for the claims of damages raised by residents.
被害の訴えに対し、どう賠償をするか。あるべき賠償の範囲についての考え方もさまざまだ。

Regardless, TEPCO, having caused the disaster, must listen carefully to the voices of disaster victims and compensate amounts comparable to the damage that has been done.
　いずれにしろ、被害者の声に真摯（しんし）に耳を傾け、被害に見合った賠償に応じることが、原発事故を起こした東電にとっては原点になるはずだ。

In Fukushima Prefecture, the number of those who have died from suicide and other causes related to the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster has surpassed 1,670 -- greater than the number of those in the prefecture who died as a direct result of the quake and tsunami. We need further debate on how the families of those people should be compensated.
　福島県では、自殺を含む震災関連死の死者数が１６７０人を超え、地震や津波で亡くなった直接死を上回る。こうした人たちへの賠償のあり方についてもさらに議論が必要だ。

毎日新聞　2014年08月27日　02時32分