The European Parliament has adopted a resolution urging the Government of Japan to provide justice to the survivors of Japan’s military sexual slavery system. The European Parliament is one of several Parliaments calling upon the Japanese Government to immediately provide redress in the form of a public apology and compensation to the victims of the so called ‘comfort woman’ system. Requisitioned by the Japanese Government, the ‘comfort women’ system consisted of thousands of women, possibly as high as 200,000, enslaved into sexual servitude for the Japanese armed forces from the 1930’s through the duration of WWII. In one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th Century, these women were subjected to numerous human rights abuses, including gang rape and forced abortions. Many survivors have subsequently suffered from mental and physical abuse, ill-health, isolation, shame and often extreme poverty.
Despite the testimonies of many former comfort women, many now in their 80s, the Government of Japan still refuses to acknowledge its responsibility for the crimes committed against these victims. In spite of this, many of these women continue to hope that justice will be achieved in their lifetimes. One former comfort woman, Gil Won Ok, stated that, in expressing the need to continue campaigning, “the Japanese Government thinks if all ‘comfort women’ die, it will be buried and forgotten…as long as our next generation knows about it, it will not be forgotten.”
Compiled from: “Comfort Women,” The Network of East-West Women – Polska/NEWW, 4 February 2008.