Civil Society Strongly Condemns Mayor Hashimoto's Recent Remark on the 'Comfort Women'

Salem-News.com Human Rights Ambassador joins 67 organizations worldwide demanding more for these abused women of WWII.

(HONG KONG) - Through the efforts of our Human Rights Ambassador, William Nicholas Gomes in the UK, Salem-News.com joins 67 organizations around the world trying to bring a level of respect and dignity to women abused by the Japanese military during WWII.

This enslavement of women for the sexual gratification of Japanese soldiers, who bayoneted Chinese women to death during the rape of Nanking, is a shameful time in Japan's history and the acknowledgement of these women is essential.

There is nothing to be done for what happened, but these women, now aged, deserve the dignity of having their experience documented and recognized.

Events of this nature in history should never be forgotten, yet all too often this is exactly what happens, underscoring the importance of this latest effort to bring recognition and acknowledgement to the suffering these women endured.

This is just the latest effort of William Gomes, who works tirelessly exposing Human Rights violations all over the world, with a recent particular emphasis on the recent garment factory collapse in Bangladesh, Mr. Gomes' native country.

Toru HASHIMOTO, the mayor of Osaka and a co-leader of the Japan Restoration Association, a political party with over 50 lawmakers in Parliament, remarked on May 13 that the “comfort women” for the Japanese Army during World War II was “necessary” in maintaining discipline in the army and providing relief for soldiers. “When soldiers are risking their lives by running through storms of bullets, and you want to give these emotionally charged mass of fighters a rest somewhere, everyone understands that a comfort women system was necessary,” he said to reporters. He also claimed that there was no proof that the Japanese authorities had forced women into servitude.

We, the undersigned international and Asian NGOs, as well as NGOs from other region strongly condemn these outrageous comments as an attempt to defend egregious violations of women’s human rights in the name of necessity.

So- called Comfort Women, are those who were victimized for widespread and systematic sexual violence at “comfort stations” or other facility in Asian regions by the former Japanese Military during World War II. The victims consisted of women from Korea, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, the Netherlands and many other countries or regions. The victims were detained and forcibly subjected to continuous rape and other sexual exploitation by Japanese soldiers. Relentless violence was used, especially when women resisted, including beatings, stabbings and burnings. Coupled with the appalling conditions of detention, a large number of women lost their lives. Since the practice was completely against human dignity, survivors have been suffering grave distress both physically and psychologically for decades. As the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, and another independent UN expert correctly found, the reality of the “comfort women” system was nothing less than military “sexual slavery”.[1]　

Wartime rape, sexual slavery and forced prostitution are recognized as most grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court explicitly stipulates “sexual slavery” and “forced prostitution” as war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is obvious that the comfort women system constitutes grave human rights violations against international law and thus should never be justified and endorsed. Hashimoto’s remark is causing further pain and distress among the survivors. We demand Mr. Hashimoto withdraw his remark immediately and publicly apologize to the survivors.

More disturbingly, Hashimoto’s remark to deny the forcible nature of the practice is not an isolated incident but an echo of the 2007 decision of the cabinet under the first administration of Shinzo ABE to that effect, which claimed that “so far there is no evidence of forcible mobilization of the comfort women by the military or police.”

The Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei KONO on the Result of the Study on the Issue of "Comfort Women" (4 August 1993) already officially admitted that “[t]he recruitment of the comfort women was conducted mainly by private recruiters who acted in response to the request of the military. The Government study has revealed that in many cases they were recruited against their own will, through coaxing coercion, etc., and that, at times, administrative/military personnel directly took part in the recruitments.” A number of court judgments in Japan also clearly found the forcible nature of the practice of comfort women. In addition, many survivors and witnesses testified in public, including to the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal that they were enslaved by abduction or other types of force, including official conscription, arrest, intimidation and violence by soldiers,.[2] There are no grounds whatsoever to deny the forcible nature of the comfort women practice.

Despite the gravity of human rights violations, Japan has failed to provide effective remedy, including compensation, genuine apology or satisfactory measures to the survivors, and the ABE administration even attempted to deny the forcible nature of the practice by maintaining and publicly stating the above mentioned 2007 cabinet decision. Such an attitude has been widely criticized by UN human rights bodies such as the Human Rights Committee, the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women(CEDAW) and the Committee against Torture(CAT) as well as the Human Rights Council UPR working groups.

A public disclosure of the truth and a public apology, including an acknowledgment of the facts, is especially crucial for the victims of the “comfort women” system whose sufferings have been unduly neglected for decades.[3]

Therefore, we demand that the Japan government officially condemn the remark made by Mr. Hashimoto and unequivocally reaffirm that fact that the comfort women practice was forcible in nature and constituted grave human rights violations.

[1] Coomaraswamy, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1996/53/Add.1 (1996). Ms. Gay J. McDougall, Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on Human Rights on systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict, UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/ 1998/13 (1998).

[2] Judgment, The Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal for the Trial of Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery, Case No. PT-2000-1-T, 31 January 2002. See also “ ‘Ianhu’ 100 nin no Shōgen”, DAYS JAPAN, vol.4, No.6, June 2007 (“Testimonies of 100 ‘Comfort Women’ ”, containing names and pictures of survivors from South Korea, North Korea, China, Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, the Netherlands, and East Timor on).

[3] See Basic Principles and Guidelines in the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law, adopted by the Commission on Human Rights in 2005, UN Doc. E/CN.4/RES/2005/35 (affirming such remedies for victims of gross violations of international human rights).

3 The International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR)

17 Human Rights Working Group(Indonesia), Indonesia NGO Coalition For International Human Rights Advocacy

23 Cambodian League for the Promotion & Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)(Cambodia)

24 IPPF(International Planned Parenthood Federation) East and Southeast Asia and Oceania Region(Malaysia)

25 Lila Pilipina (Lila Pilipina is the organization of former Filipino Comfort Women) (Philippines)

26 The National Task Force on Urban Conscientization, a mission partner of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines(Philippines)

27 KARAPATAN (Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights - Philippines)

35 All India Network of Individuals and NGOs working with N/SHRIs [AiNNI](India)

43 Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement if Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP) (Hong Kong)

58 Pangasinan Organization for Welfare, Empowerment and Rights (Pangasinan Power) (Hong Kong)

Salem-News.com Top Stories

No One Owns the Future

The Ugly Origins of Trump's America First Policy

A One-State Solution Could Transform the World

rewilding LA: Matilija Dam History and Ecosystems

One Killed and Two Injured in Shooting Near South Salem High School

Comments Leave a comment on this story.

All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.

Siraj Davis May 23, 2013 1:46 pm (Pacific time)

Great story. This is a legacy which needs to be addressed sometime in the future for relations to be improved between the victims of imperialism, in all its shapes and forms, and in every act of inhumanity. Absolutely disgraceful to see any of the countries which have played such a sentral role as my ethnic identity today, marginalizing and refusing to accept their responsibilities for crimes they have or are committing. Give these victims their rights back!!

[Return to Top]