Nearing 80 years since the end of World War II, the idea of reparations for civilian victims is getting neglected.

The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, won this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Co-chair Terumi Tanaka at the award reception ceremony sharply rebuked the attitude taken by the Japanese government, which has continued to reject calls to pay compensation for the over 200,000 people who died from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "They are not atoning for it whatsoever," Tanaka repeatedly declared.

Over the decades, the national government has provided more than 60 trillion yen (some $382 billion) to those who were in or related to the military during World War II for deaths and injuries in pensions and other forms. In contrast, it has given nothing to civilians, nor has it researched the state of victimization among them.

At root is the "endurance obligation" doctrine repeatedly brought up since the 1960s. The idea holds that the people must equally accept the losses caused by war, and the state is under no obligation to compensate them.

However, it is unreasonable to expect people to endure suffering just because they were civilians.

Using the doctrine as a shield, the government has also avoided sufficiently responding to atomic bomb survivors, or hibakusha. There are measures to provide medical and welfare resources to those whose health was impacted. Those who hold Atomic Bomb Survivor's Certificates as officially recognized victims have their health expense co-payments covered publicly. In the event of developing cancer and other ailments resulting from radiation exposure, the survivors receive additional support, recognized as patients with A-bomb-related illnesses.

As the result of hard-won court battles after many of the survivors themselves spoke out, the range of people covered by these forms of support has slowly expanded.

The government can only be said to have averted its eyes from and minimized the victims' true and serious state.

Even if survivors made it out of the bombing with their lives intact, their suffering has continued for life, a fact often referred to in Japan by an expression meaning "brutal life." On top of health effects from radiation, survivors were often subjected to discrimination and prejudice. Many also suffer from persistent feelings of guilt over being unable to save friends or family.

Survivors of WWII air raids are, like the hibakusha, continuing to fight for forms of national compensation. A cross-party legislative group is drafting a bill for the provision of 500,000 yen (approx. $3,180) across the board to those who were harmed and left with disabilities, but it has not yet been submitted to the Diet.

In major European countries, there are systems of compensation that do not distinguish between civilian and military.

The generation of people who can speak about their experiences in the war will soon no longer be with us. The national government should squarely face up to the harm suffered by the people and discuss what it can do to address that, and avoid repeating mistakes.