Asian Women Await December 2000 by Suvendrini Kakuchi TOKYO, Dec 17 (IPS)—Women’s groups also became the sex slaves of the Japanese across Asia have set December 2000 as the soldiers. launch date for what will be the first war crime Some were even merely girls at the time, tribunal focusing on violence against women with recorded cases of 11-year-olds among the in armed conflicts situations. soldiers’ sex slaves. The Women’s International War Crime Tri- For several years, the Japanese govern- bunal is actually a response to the cry for jus- ment denied the existence of “comfort sta- tice made by thousands of women forced to tions’’ set up by the now defunct Japanese be sex slaves of Japanese soldiers during Imperial Army all over Asia to service soldiers. World War II. But women’s rights activists say But following research by Japanese schol- it will also address ars that proved their other conflicts during HE TRIBUNAL IS ONE OF THE MOST existence as well as which women faced T the growing interna- systematic rape, sexual IMPORTANT INITIATIVES IN THE STRUGGLE tional uproar regarding slavery and other vio- FOR JUSTICE FOR WOMEN WHOSE the plight of the com- lence. fort women, Tokyo de- “The tribunal is one SUFFERING HAS GONE AND CONTINUE TO GO cided to set up an of the most important UNNOTICED BY THE WORLD Asian Women’s Fund initiatives in the strug- . to provide medicine gle for justice for women whose suffering has and social welfare and financial help to the gone and continue to go unnoticed by the former comfort women. world,’’ says Yayori Matsui, of the Japanese The Fund, however, is privately financed. chapter of the umbrella group Violence Against Many of the comfort women, now in their late Women in War Network (VAWW), which com- 60s and 70s, have said they want compensa- prises women’s organisations from around the tion to come from the Japanese government world. itself, as well as an official apology for what She adds that while the tribunal will really they had to go through. be a formal legal proceeding, non-government Several lawsuits seeking precisely these organisations will nonetheless be presenting have been filed against the Japanese govern- evidence that will support the points of view ment, but so far none have brought satisfac- of women who have been abused but have tory results. been denied the opportunity to have govern- According to Matsui, several court pro- ments acknowledge what happened to them, ceedings have been held in the past “to judge much less get justice. Japan’s acts in Asia’’ but none of them—not Foremost among these cases are those of even the most famous Tokyo Tribunal that the so-called “comfort women’’ forced to pro- held more than 400 hearings—really focused vide sex to the Japanese troops who had in- on the violence that had been done on the vaded and occupied their countries in World women. War II. However, it must be stressed that the tri- Research by various scholars indicates that bunal will not only address the issue of the Korean and Chinese women made up the bulk comfort women, but also other instances of of the comfort women, although many Fili- violence women have had to go through in pino, Indonesian, Thai and even Dutch women other armed conflicts across postwar Asia. 10 Women in Action No. 3, 1998 Among these are the rape of some 200,000 “The tribunal is important because it sets women during the war for independence in a precedent for achieving justice even today Bangladesh in the 1970s and the Burmese when ethnic Chinese women are struggling to military’s use of rape as a means of torture regain their dignity after being raped by Indo- during the country’s internal conflict in the nesian soldiers,’’ Herlina adds. 1980s. Meanwhile, Chinese historian Chen Lifei Activists also hope that the tribunal will of the Huadong Educational College Press says tackle the rape and sexual enslavement of Chinese scholars have started to gather evi- women in East Timor under Indonesian colo- dence after years of suppression of pertinent nial rule and rape committed by the security data. troops during the India-Kashmir war conflict Their research so far indicates that there in 1990s. were at least 77 comfort stations in Shanghai Australian legal consultant Ustina Dolgopol, who co-authored the UN report ‘Comfort Women: The Unfin- ished Ordeal’, says the many legal disadvantages faced by women are rooted in discrimination and are in- herent in the societal structure. “The tribunal aims to change this attitude,’’ she says. “By holding the tribunal, [we will be raising the awareness of] the Japanese people [on the situation of] women within Japan and else- where in the region. [We will also stress that we] believe in the equality of women and want new laws based on the perspective of women’s rights.’’ Women’s groups are now collect- Asiapix/GAB ing evidence across Asia for presen- Filipino World War II comfort women hold portraits of others who have already died during a rally at the Japanese Embassy. tation at the tribunal—an awesome The Tokyo District Court has rejected the claims for task, considering much of crucial evi- compensation and official apology. dence in many of the cases have ei- ther been destroyed or are still being hidden and that some 200,000 Chinese women were particularly those that relate to the cases of “conscripted’’ into the service. “comfort women.’’ Lawyer Wang, for her part, says there are Lawyers and researchers working with currently 45 women in Taiwan who have re- Matsui say Asian comfort women will testify vealed their stories as comfort women. How- for the first time against ex-military police, and ever, some researchers report that at least former top military men who were involved in 1,200 women from the island were forced to the system. Notes Taiwanese lawyer Wang become sex slaves of the Japanese soldiers Ching Feng: ‘’It is a civil case and will be a between 1938 and 1945. landmark not only for the comfort women but also in the now increasing consciousness of Origin: Manila/WOMEN-JAPAN/[c] 1998, InterPress people’s power that hopes to change the world Third World News Agency (IPS) for the better.’’ All rights reserved Lawyer Apong Herlina, who is working with Amit Srivastava Indonesian comfort women, expresses firm Transnational Resource and Action Center (TRAC) support for the tribunal. “Former comfort P.O. Box 29344, San Francisco, women in Indonesia have kept their suffering CA 94129, USA silent for more than five decades,’’ she relates. Tel: 1 415 561 6472 “There is a lot of expectation for the tribunal Fax: 1 415 561 6493 because it brings them justice and restores Email: [email protected] their dignity.’’ Web: http://www.corpwatch.org Women in Action No. 3, 1998 11 Appeal to women of the world Adopted at the International Symposium: How to hold the W omen’s International W ar Crimes Tribunal 2000 December 12, 1998 Tokyo Let us work together for the success of the Women’s addressed to the Japanese government and the UN High International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Commissioner for Human Rights are implemented. Sexual Slavery 2000 In order to face the end of this century in which The 20th century is said to be a century of progress women of the world have turned their pains into power but it has certainly been a century of violence. No previ- and become subjects of moving history forward, we pro- ous century has witnessed such a vast number of lives pose to hold a Women’s International War Crimes Tribu- destroyed by war and genocide and such a huge number nal in December 2000 in Tokyo as part of “Justice and of women victimised by violence as in this century. Honor to ‘Comfort Women’! Global Campaign 2000.” It is Among others, Japan’s military sexual slavery which a non-governmental tribunal originally proposed by Japa- is believed to have victimised 200,000 Asian women as nese women and will be jointly organised by women of “comfort women” during the fifteen years of the Asia-Pa- the offending country Japan, women of victim countries cific War represented one of the most blatant war crimes and women who are fighting wartime sexual violence. We committed against women in this century. Nevertheless, urge all of you to participate in our process toward the after WWII, sexual violence of the Japanese Imperial Army Tribunal. was hardly prosecuted at the Tokyo Trial. Since this is a non-governmental tribunal, it cannot But a new page of history was turned in the last dec- actually punish anyone. It aims at making the fact estab- ade of this century as “comfort women” broke their dec- lished that Japan’ s military sexual slavery constituted a ades of silence and came forward. They encouraged war crime against women, identify the perpetrators of the women of the world who suffered from violence against crime, define proper modes of their punishment, and them in war and armed conflict situations, including mass record the complete proceedings of the Tribunal as his- rape-survivors of former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and else- torical documentation. For that purpose, women should where. A growing number of women of the world have take initiative in the preparation for the Tribunal with taken action to fight war crimes against women to form a cooperation of experts and international solidarity. It is new international tide. vitally important that as many grassroots women and men At the Fourth United Nations World Women’s Con- as possible to participate in the process, especially Japa- ference in Beijing, the Platform for Action adopted de- nese women should take responsibility as women of the clared that systematic rape, sexual slavery and other vio- offending country.