Concern over the denial by Japanese MPs of the Military Sexual Slavery during WWII

Geneva, 22 June 2007

Your Excellency,

The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) would like to express our grave concern over recent statements made in a 14 June 2007 advertisement placed in the Washington Post, which denied the coercion of women into sexual slavery during World War II. Authored primarily by Japanese Members of Parliament, many of whom are members of the ruling party, with the support of professors, political commentators and journalists, this advertisement signals a huge step backward in the acknowledgment and reparation for the thousands of women who were forced into systematic military sexual slavery. Further, it is a complete reversal of both Japanese State and International Human Rights Bodies’ positions on this horrific situation.

The OMCT cannot ignore the data, collected by several national and international organisations, as well as acknowledged, to a large extent, by the Japanese State. Both before and during the Second World War, the Japanese Military enslaved women to be used to provide sex for soldiers fighting in the War. These women, called Ianfu, or “comfort women,” were provided for troops in an effort to prevent military rape throughout the War. While it is believed that there were as many as 200,000 comfort women, many of whom were minors, actual figures will likely never be ascertained due to the destruction of official records.

The international community has repeatedly condemned, both the occurrence of this practice and the subsequent treatment of the victims when the practice came to an end. Most recently, the United Nations Committee Against Torture expressed its regret that victims of these serious crimes could not be compensated in Japanese courts due to a statute of limitations. In its conclusions and recommendations from the 38th Session (CAT/C/JPN/CO/118, May 2007) the Committee specifically recommended that Japan amend these provisions so that acts amounting to torture and ill-treatment (this situation among them) can be investigated, prosecuted and punished. The Committee expressed further concern related to the State’s official position on the sexual slavery of women during WWII, stating that “continuing official denial, failure to prosecute, and failure to provide adequate rehabilitation all contribute to a failure of the State party to meet its obligations under the Convention to prevent torture and ill-treatment, including through educational and rehabilitative measures;” and that continued official denial will serve only to continue the “abuse and re-victimization of the survivors.” They went on to recommend that in order to address the root causes of these problems, the State should provide education on the topic, provide remedy and rehabilitation for the victims, and criminally prosecute those responsible.

Additionally, previous Japanese administrations have themselves acknowledged that the comfort women system was a reality, and that its victims were owed an apology. In the 1993 Kono Statement, the State not only acknowledged this practice, but expressed its “sincere apologies and remorse.”

By taking this sharp turn of policy, and refusing to acknowledge even the existence of this atrocity, Members of Parliament are re-victimizing women who have already experienced harrowing violations of their human rights. The OMCT urges the Japanese Government to take a firm stance against these kinds of statements, which only serve to further degrade the victims and diminish the seriousness of what was done to them.

Yours sincerely,

Eric Sottas

OMCT Director

c.c.:

Mr. Yohei Kono
Chairman of the Lower House
1-7-1 Nagatacho Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0014
master@yohei-kono.com

Mrs. Chikage Ohgi
Chairman of the Upper House
chi-oogi@venus.sannet.ne.jp
FAX: +81-3-3592-0407

Mr. Ichiro Ozawa
Representative of Democratic Party of Japan
1-11-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0014
FAX: +81-3-3595-7318

The Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations in Geneva

Ambassador Mr. Ichiro Fujisaki

Ambassador Mr. Makio Miyagawa

3, chemin des Fins, 1218 Grand-Saconnex, Genève, Suisse

FAX: +41-22-788-3811

Ms. Mercedes Morales

Secretary of the Committee against Torture

mmorales@ohchr.org

FAX: +41-22-917-9022