Comfort women
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225352757
2008-07-13T06:35:06Z
Binksternet
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Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/Unlimitednk|Unlimitednk]] ([[User talk:Unlimitednk|talk]]) to last version by Binksternet
{{Infobox East Asian
| title=Comfort women
| sort=japanese3
| kanji=慰安婦
| romaji=ianfu
| kanji2=従軍慰安婦
| romaji2=jūgun-ianfu
| tradchi=慰安婦
| simpchi=慰安妇
| pinyin=Wèiān Fù
| wg=Wei-An Fu
| hangul=위안부
| hanja=慰安婦
| rr=wianbu
| mr=wianbu
| hangul2=일본군 성노예
| hanja2=日本軍 性奴隸
| rr2=ilbongun seongnoe
| mr2=ilbongun songnoe
}}
'''Comfort women''' is a [[euphemism]] for women forced into [[prostitution]] and [[sexual slavery]] for [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] military brothels during [[World War II]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Duncan|Ref=DuncanMassacres}} See ''NANKING MASSACRE (December, 1937)''.</ref><ref name="definition">{{Harvnb|WCCW|2004}}.</ref> Around 50,000 - 200,000 are estimated to have been procured, but there is still some disagreement about exact numbers. Historians and researchers have stated that the majority were from [[Korea]] and [[China]], but women from the [[Philippines]], [[Thailand]], [[Vietnam]], [[Malaysia]], [[Taiwan]], the [[Dutch East Indies]], [[Indonesia]], and other [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere|Japanese-occupied territories]] were also used in "comfort stations". Stations were located in [[Japan]], [[China]], the [[Philippines]], [[Indonesia]], then [[British Malaya|Malaya]], [[Thailand]], then [[Burma]], then [[New Guinea]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Macau]], and what was then [[French Indochina]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Reuters|2007-03-05}}.</ref>
Young women from countries under Japanese imperial domination were reportedly abducted from their homes against their will. In some cases, women were also recruited with offers to work in military.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimi|2000|pp=100-101, 105-106, 110-111}};<br />{{Harvnb|Fackler|2007-03-06|Ref=CITEREFNY Times2007-03-06}};<br />{{Harvnb|BBC|2007-03-02}};<br />{{Harvnb|BBC|2007-03-08}}.</ref> It has been documented that the Japanese military itself recruited women by force.<ref>{{Harvnb|van Buitenlandse zaken|1994|pp=6–9, 11, 13–14}}.</ref>
The size and nature of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II is still being actively debated, especially in Japan.
Many military brothels were run by private agents and supervised by the Japanese Army. Some Japanese historians, using the testimony of ex-comfort women, have argued that the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] and [[Imperial Japanese Navy|Navy]] were either directly or indirectly involved in coercing, deceiving, luring, and sometimes kidnapping young women throughout Japan's [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere|Asian colonies and occupied territories]].<ref name="denial">{{Harvnb|Onishi|2007-03-08|Ref=CITEREFNY Times2007-03-08}}.</ref>
[[Image:Chinese girl from one of the Japanese Army's 'comfort battalions'.jpg|thumb|280px|[[Rangoon]], [[Myanmar|Burma]]. [[August 8]], [[1945]]. A young [[Chinese diaspora|ethnic Chinese]] woman who was in one of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]'s "comfort battalions" is interviewed by an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] officer.]]
{{Wikisource|Enforced prostitution in Western Borneo during Japanese Occupation}}
==Establishment of the Comfort Women System==
===Japanese military prostitution===
Military correspondence of Japanese Imperial Army shows that the aim of facilitating comfort stations was prevention of rape crimes committed by Japanese army personnel and thus preventing rise of hostility among people in occupied areas.<ref name="AWF_CW"/>
Given the well-organized and open nature of prostitution in Japan, it was seen as logical that there should be organized prostitution to serve the Japanese Armed Forces.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hicks|1995}}.</ref>
The Japanese Army established the comfort stations to prevent venereal diseases and rape by Japanese soldiers, to provide comfort to soldiers and head off espionage. The comfort stations were not actual solutions to the first two problems, however. According to Japanese historian [[Yoshiaki Yoshimi]], they aggravated the problems. Yoshimi has asserted, "The Japanese Imperial Army feared most that the simmering discontentment of the soldiers could explode into a riot and revolt. That is why it provided women."<ref name=korea.net2007-11-30>{{Harvnb|korea.net|2007-11-30}}.</ref>
===Recruitment===
[[Image:COMFORTAdd.GIF|thumb|250px|Fig.1. Recruitment advertising for Comfort women in newspapers in Korea.<br>(Right: Keijō nippō, July 26, 1944) "Huge Recruitment of Comfort Women, Age: 17-30. Place of Employment." but many women did not know what is the work of comfort women. Many women knew their work as factory workers or nurses, and did not know that they were being pressed into sexual slavery.<ref name=deceived>"[...] Pak (her surname) was about 17, living in Hamun, Korea, when local Korean officials, acting on orders from the Japanese, began recruiting women for factory work. Someone from Pak's house had to go. In April of 1942, turned Pak and other young women over to the Japanese, who took them into China, not into factories [...]", {{Harvnb|Horn|1997}}.</ref>]]
The first "comfort station" was established in the Japanese concession in Shanghai in 1932. Earlier comfort women were Japanese prostitutes who volunteered for such service. However, as Japan continued military expansion, the military found itself short of Japanese volunteers, and turned to the local population to coerce women into serving into these stations.<ref>{{Harvnb|Mitchell|1997}}.</ref> Many women responded to calls for work as factory workers or nurses, and did not know that they were being pressed into sexual slavery.<ref name=deceived/>
In the early stages of the war, Japanese authorities recruited prostitutes through conventional means. Middlemen advertised in newspapers circulating in Japan and the Japanese colonies of [[Korea]], [[Taiwan]], [[Manchukuo]], and [[mainland China]]. However, these sources soon dried up, especially from Japan.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimi|2000|pp=100-101, 105-106, 110-111}};<br />{{Harvnb|Hicks|1997|pp=66-67, 119, 131, 142-143}};<br />{{Harvnb|van Buitenlandse zaken|1994|pp=6–9, 11, 13–14}}.</ref>
On [[April 17]] [[2007]] [[Yoshiaki Yoshimi]] and [[Hirofumi Hayashi]] announced the discovery, in the archives of the Tokyo Trials, of seven official documents suggesting that Imperial military forces, such as the ''[[Tokeitai]]'' (Naval military police), forced women whose fathers attacked the ''[[Kempeitai]]'' (Army military police), to work in front line brothels in China, Indochina and Indonesia. These documents were initially made public at the war crimes trial. In one of these, a lieutenant is quoted as confessing to having organized a brothel and having used it himself. Another source refers to ''Tokeitai'' members having arrested women on the streets, and after enforced medical examinations, putting them in brothels.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshida|2007-04-18|Ref=JapanTimes2007-04-18}}.</ref>
On [[12 May]] [[2007]] journalist Taichiro Kajimura announced the discovery of 30 Dutch government documents submitted to the [[Tokyo tribunal]] as evidence of a forced massed prostitution incident in 1944 in [[Magelang]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Japan Times|2007-05-12|Ref=CITEREFJapanTimes2007-05-12}}.</ref>
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs resisted further issuance of travel visas for Japanese prostitutes, feeling it tarnished the image of the Japanese Empire.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimi|2000|pp=82-83}};<br />{{Harvnb|Hicks|1997|pp=223-228}}.</ref> The military turned to acquiring comfort women outside mainland Japan, especially from Korea and occupied China. Many women were tricked or defrauded into joining the military brothels.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimi|2000|pp=101-105, 113, 116-117}};<br />{{Harvnb|Hicks|1997|pp=8–9, 14}};<br />{{Harvnb|Clancey|1948|p=1135}}.</ref>
The US Army Force Office report of interview with 20 comfort women in Burma found that the girls were induced by the offer of plenty of money, an opportunity to pay off the family debts, and on the basis of these false representations many girls enlisted for overseas duty and were rewarded with advance of a few hundred yen.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yorichi|1944}}.</ref>
In urban areas, conventional advertising through middlemen was used alongside kidnapping. However, along the front lines, especially in the countryside where middlemen were rare, the military often directly demanded that local leaders procure women for the brothels. This situation became worse as the war progressed. Under the strain of the war effort, the military became unable to provide enough supplies to Japanese units; in response, the units made up the difference by demanding or looting supplies from the locals. Moreover, when the locals, especially Chinese, were considered hostile, Japanese soldiers carried out the [[Sanko sakusen|"Three Alls Policy"]], which included indiscriminately kidnapping and raping local civilians.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fujiwara|1998}};<br />{{Harvnb|Himeta|1996}};<br />{{Harvnb|Bix|2000}}.</ref>
South Korean government designated Bae Jeong-ja as pro-Japan collaborator (''[[chinilpa]]'') in September 2007 for recruiting comfort women.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bae|2007-09-17|Ref=KoreaTimes2007-09-17}}.</ref><ref>{{ja icon}} [http://japanese.joins.com/article/article.php?aid=91235 "宋秉畯ら第2期親日反民族行為者202人を選定"], [[JoongAng Ilbo]], 2007.09.17. "日本軍慰安婦を募集したことで悪名高いベ・ジョンジャ"</ref>
===Number of comfort women===
Lack of official documentation has made estimates of the total number of comfort women difficult, as vast amounts of material pertaining to matters related to war crimes and the war responsibility of the nation's highest leaders were destroyed on the orders of the Japanese government at the end of the war.<ref>''Burning of Confidential Documents by Japanese Government'', case no.43, serial 2, International Prosecution Section vol. 8;<br />"When it became apparent that Japan would be forced to surrender, an organized effort was made to burn or otherwise destroy all documents and other evidence of ill-treatment of prisoners of war and civilian internees. The Japanese Minister of War issued an order on 14 August 1945 to all Army headquarters that confidential documents should be destroyed by fire immediately. On the same day, the Commandant of the Kempetai sent out instructions to the various Kempetai Headquarters detailing the methods of burning large quantities of documents efficiently.", {{Harvnb|Clancey|1948|p=1135}};<br />"[...] , the actual number of comfort women remains unclear because the Japanese army incinerated many crucial documents right after the defeat for fear of war crimes prosecution, [...]", {{Harvnb|Yoshimi|2000|p=91}};<br />{{Harvnb|Bix|2000|p=528}};<br />"Between the announcement of a ceasefire on August 15, 1945, and the arrival of small advance parties of American troops in Japan on August 28, Japanese military and civil authorities systematically destroyed military, naval, and government archives, much of which was from the period 1942–1945. Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo dispatched enciphered messages to field commands throughout the Pacific and East Asia ordering units to burn incriminating evidence of war crimes, especially offenses against prisoners of war. The director of Japan’s Military History Archives of the National Institute for Defense Studies estimated in 2003 that as much as 70 percent of the army’s wartime records were burned or otherwise destroyed.", {{Harvnb|Drea|2006|p=9}}.</ref> Historians have arrived at various estimates by looking at surviving documentation which indicate the ratio of the number of soldiers in a particular area to the number of women, as well as looking at replacement rates of the women.<ref>{{Harvnb|Nakamura|2007-03-20|Ref=JapanTimes2007-03-20}}.</ref> Historian [[Yoshiaki Yoshimi]], who conducted the first academic study on the topic which brought the issue out into the open, estimated the number to be between 50,000 and 200,000.<ref name="AWF_CW">{{Harvnb|Asian Women'sFund|p=10|Ref=AWF-CW}}.</ref>
Based on these estimates, most international media sources quote about 200,000 young women were recruited or kidnapped by soldiers to serve in Japanese military brothels. The BBC quotes "200,000 to 300,000" and the International Commission of Jurists quotes "estimates of historians of 100,000 to 200,000 women."<ref>"An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 women across Asia, predominantly Korean and Chinese, are believed to have been forced to work as sex slaves in Japanese military brothels", {{Harvnb|BBC|2000-12-08|Ref=BBC2000-12-08}};<br >
"Historians say thousands of women -- as many as 200,000 by some accounts -- mostly from Korea, China and Japan worked in the Japanese military brothels", {{Harvnb|Irish Examiner|2007-03-08|Ref=IE2007-03-08}};<br />
{{Harvnb|AP|2007-03-07|Ref=IHT2007-03-07}};<br />
{{Harvnb|CNN|2001-03-29|Ref=CNN2001-03-29}}.</ref>
===Country of origin===
Internationally, it is generally thought that most of the women were from Korea and China.<ref> "An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 women across Asia, predominantly Korean and Chinese, are believed to have been forced to work as sex slaves in Japanese military brothels", {{Harvnb||BBC|2000-12-08|Ref=BBC2000-12-08}};<br />
"Estimates of the number of comfort women range between 50,000 and 200,000. It is believed that most were Korean", {{Harvnb|Soh|2001}};<br />
"A majority of the 80,000 to 200,000 comfort women were from Korea, though others were recruited or recruited from China, the Philippines, Burma, and Indonesia. Some Japanese women who worked as prostitutes before the war also became comfort women.", {{Harvnb|Horn|1997}};
<br >"Approximately 80 percent of the sex slaves were Korean; [...]. By one approximation, 80 percent were between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.", {{Harvnb|Gamble|Watanabe|2004|p=[http://books.google.com/books?id=gKUUuK0ym_oC&pg=PA309&sig=ACfU3U2rWIIp_PONHZv4d6ljaY5Tze0bcg 309]}};<br />
{{Harvnb|Soh|2001}}.</ref> However, according to [[University of New York]] professor Yoshiko Nozaki and other sources, the majority of the women were from [[Korea]], and [[China]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Nozaki|2005}};<br />
{{Harvnb|Dudden|2006}}.</ref> Chuo University professor [[Yoshiaki Yoshimi]] states there were about 2,000 centers where as many as 200,000 Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Taiwanese, Burmese, Indonesian, Dutch and Australian women were interned. See Yoshimi, Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military during World War II, Columbia University press, 2002. Nihon University professor [[Ikuhiko Hata]] estimated the number of women working in the licensed pleasure quarter was fewer than 20,000. They were 40% Japanese, 20% Koreans, 10% Chinese, with others making up the remaining 30%. 200,000 might be an overestimation because the total number of government-regulated prostitutes was 170,000 in Japan during the WW2.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hata|1999}};<br />
"Hata essentially equates the 'comfort women' system with prostitution and finds similar practices during the war in other countries. He has been criticized by other Japanese scholars for downplaying the hardship of the 'comfort women'.", {{Harvnb|Drea|2006|p=41}}.</ref> Others came from the [[Philippines]], [[Taiwan]], [[Japanese occupation of Indonesia|Dutch East Indies]], and other Japanese-occupied countries and regions.<ref name="workingpaper">{{Harvnb|Soh|2001}}.</ref> Some [[Dutch people|Dutch]] women, captured in Dutch colonies in Asia, were also forced into [[sexual slavery]].<ref>{{Harvnb|chosun.com|2007-03-19}};<br />
{{Harvnb|Moynihan|2007-03-03|Ref=TheAge2007-03-03}}.</ref>
In further analysis of the Imperial Army medical records for venereal disease treatment from 1940, Yoshimi concluded that if the percentages of women treated reflected the general make up of the total comfort women population, Korean women comprised 51.8 percent, Chinese 36 percent and Japanese 12.2 percent.<ref name=korea.net2007-11-30 />
According to Kono Statement in 1993, the origin of those comfort women who were transferred to the war areas, excluding those from Japan, those from the Korean Peninsula accounted for a large part.<ref name=konostate>{{Harvnb|Kono|1993}}.</ref>
To date, only one Japanese woman has published her testimony. This was done in 1971, when a former "comfort woman" forced to work for showa soldiers in Taiwan, published her memoirs under the pseudonym of Suzuko Shirota.<ref>{{Harvnb|China Daily|2007-07-06|Ref=ChinaDaily2007-07-06}}.</ref>
===Treatment of comfort women===
According to [[Unit 731]] soldier [[Yasuji Kaneko]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.att.ne.jp/blue/gendai-shi/yokuryu-sya-syogen/731-cholera.html |title=731部隊「コレラ作戦」 |accessdate=2007-03-23 |language=Japanese }}.</ref> "The women cried out, but it didn't matter to us whether the women lived or died. We were the emperor's soldiers. Whether in military brothels or in the villages, we raped without reluctance."<ref name="proof">{{Harvnb|Tabuchi|2007-03-01|Ref=WPost2007-03-01}}.</ref> Beatings and physical torture were said to be common.<ref name="statement"/>
Ten Dutch women were taken by force from prison camps in Java by officers of the Japanese Imperial Army to become forced sex slaves in February 1944. They were systematically beaten and raped day and night in a so called "Comfort Station".<ref name="statement"/><ref name="denial"/> As a victim of the incident, Jan Ruff-O'Hearn testified to a U.S. House of Representatives committee, "Many stories have been told about the horrors, brutalities, suffering and starvation of Dutch women in Japanese prison camps. But one story was never told, the most shameful story of the worst human rights abuse committed by the Japanese during World War II: The story of the “Comfort Women”, the jugun ianfu, and how these women were forcibly seized against their will, to provide sexual services for the Japanese Imperial Army. In the so-called “Comfort Station” I was systematically beaten and raped day and night. Even the Japanese doctor raped me each time he visited the brothel to examine us for venereal disease."<ref name="statement">{{Harvnb|O'Herne|2007}}.</ref><ref name="denial"/> Although they were returned to the prison camps within three months upon protest of the Dutch prisoners against the Imperial Army, the Japanese officers were not punished by Japanese authorities until the end of the war.<ref name="awf"> {{Citation|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070628152203/http://www.awf.or.jp/program/pdf/p107_141.pdf |title=日本占領下インドネシアにおける慰安婦 |accessdate=2007-03-23 |language=Japanese }}, archived from [http://www.awf.or.jp/program/pdf/p107_141.pdf the original] on [[2007-01-28]].</ref> After the end of the war 11 Japanese officers were declared guilty with one sentenced to death by the Batavia War Criminal Court.<ref name="awf"/> It decided that the case was not crime organized by the Army and that the ones who raped violated the Army’s order to hire only voluntary women.<ref name="awf"/> Some victims from [[East Timor]] testified they were forced when they were not old enough to have started menstruating and repeatedly raped by Japanese soldiers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hirano|2007-04-28|Ref=JapanTimes2007-04-28}}.</ref> Some of those who refused to comply were executed.<ref>{{Harvnb|Coop|2006-12-23|Ref=JapanTimes2006-12-23}}.</ref>
[[Hank Nelson]], emeritus professor at the [[Australian National University]]’s Asia Pacific Research Division has written about the brothels run by the Japanese military in [[Rabaul]], [[Papua New Guinea]] during WWII. He quotes from the diary of Gordon Thomas, a POW in Rabaul. Thomas writes that the women working at the brothels “most likely served 25 to 35 men a day” and that they were “victims of the yellow slave trade.”<ref name="Nelson_rabaul">{{Harvnb|Nelson|2007}}.</ref>
Nelson also quotes from [[Kentaro Igusa]], a Japanese naval surgeon who was stationed in Rabaul. Igusa wrote in his memoirs that the women continued to work through infection and severe discomfort, though they “cried and begged for help.”<ref name="Nelson_rabaul"/>
===Evidence===
After its defeat the Japanese military destroyed many documents for fear of war crimes prosecution.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimi|1995|pp=1135-1136}}.</ref>
Historians have searched for evidence of the Army and Navy's coercion, and some written proof has been discovered, such as documents found in 2007 by [[Yoshiaki Yoshimi]] and Hirofumi Hayashi.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshida|2007-04-18|Ref=JapanTimes2007-04-18}}.</ref> The surviving sex slaves wanted an apology from the Japanese government. Abe Hiroshi, the prime minister at the time, stated that there is no evidence that the Japanese government instituted a brutal sex slave industry.
==History of the controversy==
===Disputed testimony of an ex-soldier===
In 1983 [[Seiji Yoshida]] published ''Watashino sensō hanzai - Chōsenjin Kyōsei Renkō'' (''My War Crimes: The Impressment of Koreans''), in which the author confesses to forcibly procuring women from [[Jeju Island]] in Korea under the direct order from the Japanese military. In 1991 ''[[Asahi Shimbun]]'', one of the major newspapers of Japan, ran a series on comfort women for a year. This is often regarded as the trigger of the on-going controversy over comfort women in Japan. In this series the ''Asahi Shimbun'' repeatedly published excerpts of his book. Consequently, it was regarded as evidence of "forced comfort women" and cited in the U.N. report by Dr. [[Radhika Coomaraswamy]].
But some people doubted Yoshida's "confession" because he was alone in admitting to such crimes. When Prof. [[Ikuhiko Hata]] revisited the villages in South Korea where Yoshida claimed he had abducted many women, nobody confirmed Yoshida's confession and the situation was contradictory to his confession. When Hata questioned Yoshida on this matter, the latter admitted that he had taken artistic licence in respect to the places mentioned.{{Fact|date=November 2007}}
===Initial government response and litigation===
Initially the Japanese government denied any official connection to the wartime brothels; in June 1990, the Japanese government declared that all brothels were run by private contractors.
In 1990 the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery filed suit, demanding compensation. Several surviving comfort women also independently filed suit in the [[Tokyo]] [[District Court]]. The court rejected these claims on grounds such as statute of limitations, the immunity of the State at the time of the act concerned, and non-subjectivity of the individual of international law.<ref>{{Harvnb|Violence Against Women in War|Ref=VAWWSexualSlavery}}.</ref>
===Kono statement===
However, in 1991, the historian [[Yoshiaki Yoshimi]] discovered incriminating documents in the archives of Japan's [[Japan Defense Agency|Defense Agency]]. According to Yoshimi they indicated that the military was directly involved in running the brothels, for example by selecting the recruiting agents.<ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshimi|2000}}.</ref> The [[Asahi Shimbun]], a major Japanese national daily newspaper, published these findings as a front-page article ''"Japanese Army abducted comfort women"'' on [[11 January]] [[1992]]. This caused a sensation and forced the government, represented by Chief Cabinet Secretary, [[Koichi Kato]], to acknowledge some of the facts the same day. On [[January 17]] [[1992]] Prime minister [[Kiichi Miyazawa]] presented formal apologies for the suffering of the victims during a trip to South Korea.
After some government studies into the matter, [[Yohei Kono]], the Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Japanese government, issued a statement on [[4 August]] [[1993]]. By this statement the Japanese government recognized that "Comfort stations were operated in response to the request of the military of the day", that "The Japanese military was directly or indirectly involved in the establishment and management of the comfort stations and the transfer of the women", "The 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 and coercion". The government of Japan "sincerely apologize[d] and [expressed its] remorse to all those, irrespective of place of origin, who suffered immeasurable pain and incurable psychological wounds". In the statement, the government of Japan expressed its "firm determination never to repeat the same mistake and that they would engrave such issue through the study and teaching of history".<ref name=konostate />
Although this statement gave the pretense of being an apology, it was very carefully worded, thus admitting an unspecified role in the military brothels, yet rejecting legal responsibility for them. Japan continues to contend the brothels were not a "system" and not a war crime nor crime against humanity.<ref name= history>{{Harvnb|Washington Coalition for Comfort Women Issues - History|Ref=WCCWI-History}}.</ref>
===Asia Women's Fund===
In 1995 Japan set up an "Asia Women's Fund" for atonement in the form of material compensation and to provide each surviving comfort woman with a signed apology from the then prime minister [[Tomiichi Murayama]], stating "As Prime Minister of Japan, I thus extend anew my most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women."<ref>{{Harvnb|Asian Women's Fund|1996}}.</ref> The fund is funded by private donations and not government money, and has been criticized as a way to avoid admitting government abuse.<ref name="brothel">{{Harvnb|Coleman|2007-03-23|Ref=WPost2007-03-23}}.</ref><ref name="proof">{{Harvnb|Tabuchi|2007-03-01|Ref=WPost2007-03-01}}.</ref> But because of the unofficial nature of the fund, many comfort women have rejected these payments and continue to seek an official apology and compensation.
===United Nations Human Rights Commission===
On [[June 22]] [[1998]] Gay J. McDougall, Special Rapporteur to the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights|United Nations Human Rights Commission]], released ''Contemporary Forms of Slavery''<ref name="McDougall">{{Harvnb|McDougall|1998}}.</ref>, a report based on prior UN investigation by [[Linda Chavez]] documenting systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices in wartime in general but which was mainly aimed at bringing wider attention to the deep harm to human rights caused by Japan's comfort women program during World War II. The report detailed the official Japanese government stance as well as the UN's own legal position. MacDougall was awarded a [[MacArthur Fellows Program]] "genius" grant the year after her analysis.
====Guilt and liability====
The 1998 UN report listed their findings regarding Japan's guilt and liability:
*The system of comfort women used by the Japanese government during WWII falls under the international definition of slavery at the time, and slavery (sexual or otherwise) was illegal at the time. The [[1926 Slavery Convention]] embodies one such definition. International prohibition of slavery was included in the Tokyo Charter which was used to make the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East]].<ref name="McDougall"/>
*Rape (including forced or coerced prostitution) was a war crime at the time; regardless of whether prostitution was widespread during World War II.<ref name="McDougall"/>
*Enslavement and other inhumane acts committed by the Japanese government can be considered “crimes against humanity.” In crimes against humanity, the nationality of the victim is irrelevant thus, (it doesn’t matter if the Japanese government was committing crimes against its enemies’ citizens or its own) it is liable for these offenses.<ref name="McDougall"/>
*The Japanese government is liable for crimes against humanity because of the considerable scale on which these crimes were committed.<ref name="McDougall"/>
*Arguments that the enslaving and raping of comfort women was perfectly legal at the time is similar to an argument that was used and refuted at the [[Nuremberg Trials]].<ref name="McDougall"/>
====Official position of the Japanese government====
The 1998 UN report stated their understanding of Japan's legal position regarding compensation:
"Until the early 1990s, the Japanese government denied the extent of its involvement in the creation of comfort stations and the abuses committed against women (comfort women). The Japanese government has made various apologies since the early 1990s. One very notable apology was made by Prime Minister [[Tomiichi Murayama]] in July 1995 in which he specifically mentions the Japanese military’s involvement in crimes against comfort women. Though it has seemingly apologized repeatedly for these offenses, the Japanese government denies legal liability for the creation and maintenance of the system of “comfort stations” and comfort women used during World War II. The Japanese government has set up an [[Comfort women#Asia Women.27s Fund|Asia Women’s Fund]] which conveys Japan’s apologies for crimes committed against women during World War II through direct donations from the Japanese public. Despite this, according to the Japanese government, individual comfort women don’t deserve compensation."<ref name="McDougall"/><ref name="honda">{{Harvnb|Honda|2007}}.</ref>
===Abe controversy===
On [[2 March]] [[2007]] the issue was raised again by Japanese prime minister [[Shinzo Abe]], when he denied that the Japanese military had forced women into [[sexual slavery]] during World War II in an orchestrated way. He stated, "The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion." Before he spoke, a group of [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]] lawmakers also sought to revise Yohei Kono's 1993 apology to former comfort women.{{Dead link|date=November 2007}} <ref>{{Harvnb|Yomiri Shimbun|2007-03-07|Ref=YomiriShimbun2007-03-07}}.</ref><ref name="brothel"/> Abe's statement provoked a negative reaction from Asian and Western countries. The New York Times editorial said, "These were not commercial brothels. Force, explicit and implicit, was used in recruiting these women."<ref>{{Harvnb|New York Times|2007-03-06|Ref=NYTimes2007-03-06}}.</ref> On [[26 March]] [[2007]] Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his regrets for the violations of human rights with regard to comfort women.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} According to Kyodo news, Abe's step back and announcement that he should stand after all to [[Yohei Kono]]'s 1993 statement was made after firm warning by U.S. ambassador Thomas Schieffer.<ref>{{Harvnb|Japan Times|2007-11-09|Ref=Japan Times2007-11-09}}.</ref>
Following Abe's declarations, former education minister Nariaki Nakayama declared he was proud that the [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)| Liberal Democratic Party]] had succeeded in getting references to "wartime sex slaves" struck from most authorized history texts for junior high schools. "Our campaign worked, and people outside government also started raising their voices."
<ref>{{Harvnb|Yoshida|2007-03-11|Ref=JapanTimes2007-03-11}}.</ref>, He also declared that he agreed with an e-mail sent to him saying that the "victimized women in Asia should be proud of being comfort women".<ref>{{Harvnb|China Daily|2005-07-13|Ref=ChinaDaily2005-07-13}}.</ref>
===The use of the term===
[[Taiwan]]'s English-language newspaper [[Taipei Times]] says that the first exposure of the use of ''Korean comfort women'' can be found in Japanese writer ''[[List of Japanese writers: T|Tamura Taijiro]]'s'' 1947 novel ''A Prostitute's Story''.<ref name="tt">{{Harvnb|Lin|2000-12-18|Ref=TaipeiTimes2000-12-18}}.</ref>
Japanese newspaper [[Yomiuri Shimbun]] stated that comfort women were not treated as "paramilitary personnel", unlike military nurses.<ref name=Yomiuri>{{Harvnb|Yomori Shimbun|2007-03-31|Ref=YomoriShimbun2007-03-31}}.</ref> The article says, during the war, ''Comfort women'' were not called {{nihongo|''military comfort women''|従軍慰安婦|jūgun-ianfu}} and the use of the term spread in the post-war period.<ref name=Yomiuri/> The term ''military comfort women'' is said to have been used by Japanese writer ''[[Kakou Senda|Kakō Senda]]'' (1924-2000) in his book titled ''Jūgun Ianfu'' (military comfort women ) published in 1973.<ref name=Yomiuri/>
Senda’s book became a best seller.<ref name="hnn"/> Thereafter, the usage of ''jugun ianfu'' prevailed, and the term ''jugun ianfu'' (comfort women serving in the war), would later become contentious, came to have a wide circulation.<ref name="hnn">{{Harvnb|Nozaki|2005}}.</ref>
===U.S. Congressional resolution===
{{Wikisource|Japanese Military's "Comfort Women" System}}
In 2007 [[Mike Honda]] of the [[United States House of Representatives]] proposed [[United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121|House Resolution 121]] which stated that Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner, refute any claims that the issue of comfort women never occurred, and educate current and future generations "about this horrible crime while following the recommendations of the international community with respect to the 'comfort women'."<ref>{{Harvnb|GovTrack.us|2007-2008}}.</ref> Honda has stated that "the purpose of this resolution is not to bash or humiliate Japan."<ref>{{Harvnb|chosun.com|2007-02-02}}.</ref> However, the Japanese embassy in the U.S. stated that the Resolution was erroneous in terms of the facts and that it would be harmful to the friendship between the US and Japan.<ref>{{Harvnb|Embassy of Japan in the United States of America|2007|Ref=JapanEmbassy2007}}.</ref>
On [[April 26]], [[2007]], a group created to support the passage of House Resolution 121 took a full-page ad out in the Washington Post calling attention to the “comfort women” issue.<ref> {{Harvnb|CSIS|2007|p=142}}.</ref> In response, in the June 14 edition, members of the LDP, DJP, independents, professors, political commentators, and journalists styling themselves collectively as "Assentors" joined to place a counter advertisement headed "The Facts".<ref>{{Harvnb|Assentors|2007-06-14|Ref=WPost2007-06-14}}.</ref> On June 26, the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs reported out the Honda Resolution by a vote of 39-2. Abe took a "no comment" stance with respect to the resolution.<ref>{{Harvnb|CSIS|2007|p=139}}.</ref>
On [[July 30]] [[2007]] the resolution passed through the House of Representatives after half an hour of debate in which there was no opposition voiced.<ref name="passes">{{Harvnb|Epstein|2007-07-31|Ref=SFChronicle2007-07-31}}.</ref> Honda was quoted on the floor as saying, "We must teach future generations that we cannot allow this to continue to happen. I have always believed that reconciliation is the first step in the healing process."
===Dutch Parliament resolution===
The lower house of the Dutch parliament passed a motion unanimously on [[November 20]][[2007]] urging Japan to financially compensate the women forced into sex slavery during World War II.
"This should send a strong and clear signal to the Japanese government and the Japanese people, that so many years after World War II, people in the Netherlands still want the Japanese to recognize the war crimes of the past and to recognize the victims," said van Baalen, who tabled the motion.
"It is a matter still taken seriously in the Netherlands," he said.
<ref>{{Harvnb|Xinhau|2007-11-21}};<br />
{{Harvnb|Davis|2007-11-28|Ref=HillTimes2007-11-28}}.</ref>
===Canadian Lower House resolution===
<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[Image:Menen Castillo.jpg|thumb|right|250px|photo of Menen Castillo in November 2007 at Congress Canada - one of the "comfort women" who was forced to be a sex slave in WWII by Japanese army ]] -->
Canada's lower house unanimously approved a draft motion on November 28, 2007 that urges the Japanese government to make a "formal and sincere apology" to women who were forced by the Japanese military to provide sex for soldiers during World War II.
The text of the motion said the Canadian government should call on the Japanese government "to take full responsibility for the involvement of the Japanese Imperial Forces in the system of forced prostitution, including through a formal and sincere apology expressed in the Diet to all of those who were victims; and to continue to address with those affected in a spirit of reconciliation."
It also said, "Some Japanese public officials have recently expressed a regrettable desire to dilute or rescind the 1993 statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono on the 'comfort women,' which expressed the (Japanese) Government's sincere apologies and remorse for their ordeal."
The motion, though nonbinding, also said the Canadian government should call on Japan to abandon any statement which devalues the expression of regret from the Kono statement and to clearly and publicly refute any claims that the sexual enslavement and trafficking of the "comfort women" for the Imperial Japanese Army never occurred.<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/422182
|title = Canada urges Japan to apologize to WWII sex slaves
|accessdate = 2007-11-28
|author = Wire Reports
|format = html
|work = Japan Today News
|publisher = japantoday.com
|language = English
}}.{{dead link|date=July 2008|url=http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/422182}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|AFP|2007-11-28}}.</ref>
===European Parliament resolution===
Following a campaign by Amnesty International to press the EU on making a statement about the issue, on [[13 December]] [[2007]] the [[European Parliament]] in [[Strasbourg]] passed a resolution calling for the Japanese government to formally acknowledge its historical responsibility over the Comfort Women issue, as well as apologize and compensate victims.
The motion was submitted by Jean Lambert, a Green member of the European Parliament, and was voted through by 54 [[Member of the European Parliament|MEP]]s. The resolution, while acknowledging past statements by the Japanese government, noted that "some Japanese officials have recently expressed a regrettable desire to dilute or rescind those statements" and called for the Japanese government to "formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical and legal responsibility, in a clear and unequivocal manner". The resolution also called for the Japanese government to remove legal obstacles to compensation for the victims, and to take steps to educate people about these events.
<ref>{{Harvnb|Amnesty International|2007-12-13}};<br />
{{Harvnb|Kyodo|2007-11-24}};<br />
{{Harvnb|The Parliment|2007-12-14}};<br />
{{Harvnb|Europees Parlement|2007-12-13}}.</ref><ref name="passes"/>
==Revisionists and other deniers==
{{Disputed-section|date=March 2008}}
The main opposition to the mainstream ideas about comfort women is perhaps the view held by [[Ikuhiko Hata]] and other [[Historical revisionism|revisionist]] historians. They question the credibility of certain evidence used to prove the existence and scope of various war crimes committed by Japan including the abuse of comfort women. These Japanese historians argue that there is no evidence to prove the Japanese military's direct involvement in coercion of the women. In their view, there was violent treatment of comfort women by private agents, which would make the Japanese Military only responsible for insufficient supervision.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} A comic book, ''[[Neo Gomanism Manifesto Special - On Taiwan|On Taiwan]]'' by Japanese author [[Yoshinori Kobayashi]], depicts kimono-clad women lining up to sign up for duty before a Japanese soldier. Kobayashi's book contains an interview with Taiwanese industrialist [[Shi Wen-long]] who stated that no women were forced to serve, and that they worked in more hygienic conditions compared to regular prostitutes because the use of condoms was mandatory.<ref name=nyt>{{Harvnb|Landler|2001-03-02|Ref=NY Times2001-03-02}}.</ref>.
Hata estimates the number of comfort women to be more likely between 10,000 and 20,000 (in contrast to 60,000 to 300,000 estimated by other historians).<ref name="AWF_CW"/> Hata writes that none of the comfort women were forcibly recruited.<ref>"None of them was forcibly recruited.", {{Harvnb|Hata|undated|p=16}}.</ref> The proportion of countries of origin of the women is also in dispute.
One argument revisionists use {{Who|date=January 2008}} to oppose the mainstream conclusions about the abuse of comfort women is to question the credibility of testimony given by former comfort women. Some Japanese politicians have argued that the former comfort women's testimony is inconsistent and unreliable, making it invalid.<ref>"Their testimonies have undergone dramatic changes...", {{Harvnb|Assentors|2007-06-14|Ref=WPost2007-06-14}}.</ref>
Some groups in Japan have protested the mainstream ideas about comfort women being broadcast in mass media. This resulted in the [[NHK]] controversy in early 2001. What was supposed to be coverage of the [[Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery]] was extremely edited and an interview with [[Ikuhiko Hata|Hata]] was inserted at the last minute to appease the right-wing groups that complained to NHK.<ref>"However, the second night’s programming on January 30 was heavily censored through deletion, interpolations, alterations, dismemberment and even fabrication. This segment was originally supposed to cover the 'Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery' that had been held in Tokyo in December 2000.", {{Harvnb|Yoneyama|2002}}.</ref>
==See also==
* [[List of war crimes]]
* [[Japanese war crimes]]
* [[List of War Apology Statements Issued by Japan]]
* [[Anti-Japanese sentiment]]
** [[Anti-Japanese sentiment in China]]
** [[Anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea]]
* [[Trafficking in human beings]]
* [[The House of Dolls|Joy Division (World War II)]]
* [[Recreation and Amusement Association]]
* [[Historical revisionism (negationism)]]
* [[United States House of Representatives House Resolution 121]]
* [[Rosa Henson]], a Filipina who told her story as a comfort woman
* [[Sexual enslavement by Nazi Germany in WWII]]
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}
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| volume = 23607
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|accessdate=2008-05-20
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|date=[[March 19]],[[2007]]
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}}.
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==Further reading==
* Barbara Drinck, Chung-noh Gross ''Forced Prostitution in Times of War and Peace'', Kleine Verlag, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-3-89370-436-1.
* Tanaka, Yuki ''Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution During World War II and the US Occupation'', London, Routledge: 2002. ISBN 0-415-19401-6.
* Yoshimi, Yoshiaki ''Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II'', Columbia University Press, 2001. (mentioned RAA too) ISBN 0-231-12032-X.
* Molasky, Michael S. ''American Occupation of Japan and Okinawa'', Routledge, 1999. ISBN 0-415-19194-7, ISBN 0-415-26044-2.
* D. Kim-Gibson, ''Silence Broken: Korean Comfort Women'', 1999. ISBN 0-931209-88-9.
* Hicks, George L. ''The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War'', 1997. ISBN 0-393-31694-7.
* Schellstede, Sangmie Choi. ''Comfort Women Speak: Testimony by Sex Slaves of the Japanese Military'', 2000. ISBN 0-8419-1413-3.
* Wakabayashi, Bob Tadashii "Comfort Women: Beyond Litigious Feminism"
* Nora Okja Keller "Comfort Woman", London, Penguin: 1998. ISBN 0-14-026335-7.
* [[Maria Rosa Henson]] "Comfort woman: Slave of destiny", Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism: 1996. ISBN 9718686118.
==External links==
===Web===
{{sisterlinks}}
*[http://www.awf.or.jp/english/index.html Asian Women's Fund web site]
*[http://www.comfort-women.org/ Comfort-Women.org]
*[http://koreadutchindiesproject.blogspot.com/ Korea Dutch Indies Sex Slavery Translation Project]
*[http://www.support121.org/ 121 Coalition]
*[http://www.mogef.go.kr/english/dev/victims/index.jsp "The Victims"] (from the South Korean Ministry of Gender and Family Equality)
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YMUjvtt7Gg&feature=related Japanese Military Sex Slaves]{{Citation broken|date=May 2008}}, CBS Report featuring [[Mike Honda]] and Nariaki Nakayama's infamous comment comparing "comfort houses"} and cafeterias
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il0xCjBXTmM Japan forced women to work as sex slaves during World War II]
*[http://theseoultimes.com/ST/photo_gallery/photo_gallery.php?name=Comfort_Woman_Picture_Gallery Photo gallery] at the Seoul Times.
*[http://www.apublicbetrayed.com/case_studies/case_study5.htm A Public Betrayed - How the Japanese Media Betrays its Own People]
*{{cite web
| last =
| first =
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
|date=
| year = 2006
| month =
| url = http://www.awm.gov.au/alliesinadversity/prisoners/women.asp
| title = ''Comfort Women''
| format = Web page
| work =
| pages =
| publisher = [[Australian War Memorial]]
| language = English
| accessdate = 2008-01-06
| accessyear =
}} - describes the experience of Jan O’Herne in Java
*{{cite web
| last = Nakamura
| first = Akemi
| authorlink =
| coauthors = Ikuhiko Hata (denies that sex slavery existed) & Yoshiaki Yoshimi (vocally supports the position that sexual slavery occurred)
| date =
| year = March 20, 2007
| month =
| url = http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070320i1.html
| title = Comfort Women: Were they teen-rape slaves or paid pros?
| format =
| work = The Japan Times
| pages =
| publisher =
| language =
| accessdate = 2006-03-23
| accessyear =
}}
* [http://www.fcwa.org.au Friends of “Comfort Women” Australia (FCWA)] - not-for-profit organisation focusing on the plight of the Japanese military “Comfort Women” of World War II.
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=R7aMMlMN1XM ''Mourning''], song about comfort women composed by Mu Ting Zhang and directed by Po En Lee
===Academic research===
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20061209130115/http://online.sfsu.edu/~soh/comfortwomen.html The Comfort Women project]
*[http://www32.ocn.ne.jp/~modernh/13eng.htm Hayashi Hirofumi's papers on comfort women]
*[http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp77.html Responsibility Toward Comfort Women Survivors]: [[Japan Policy Research Institute]] Working Paper 77.
*[http://www.jpri.org/publications/critiques/critique_IX_2.html Japan's Comfort Women, Theirs and Ours]: Book review, Japan Policy Research Institute ''Critique'' 9:2.
*[http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_asian_american_studies/toc/jaas6.1.html Journal of Asian American Studies 6:1, Feb 2003], issue on American studies of comfort women, Kandice Chuh, ed.
*[http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/31_S4.pdf No Organized or Forced Recruitment: Misconceptions about Comfort Women and the Japanese Military]: Critical study on comfort women problem.
===Japanese official statements===
*[http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/women/fund/state9507.html Statement by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama on the occasion of the establishment of the "Asian Women's Fund"] (1995, Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
*[http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/women/fund/pmletter.html Letter from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the former comfort women] (2001, Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
===United States historical documents===
*[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.+Con.+Res.+226: House Concurrent Resolution 226] (June 23, 2003, 108th United States Congress), introduced by Rep. Lane Evans (Illinois 17), referred to House Committee on International Relations; not passed.
*[http://www.exordio.com/1939-1945/codex/Documentos/report-49-USA-orig.html Japanese Comfort Women] (1944, United States Office of War Information)
{{World War II}}
[[Category:Comfort women| ]]
{{Link FA|eo}}
[[ar:نساء المتعة (اليابان)]]
[[de:Trostfrauen]]
[[eo:Komfortulinoj]]
[[fr:Femmes de réconfort]]
[[ko:종군위안부]]
[[io:Mulieri di komforto]]
[[id:Jugun ianfu]]
[[nl:Troostmeisje]]
[[ja:慰安婦]]
[[pl:Kobiety do towarzystwa]]
[[ro:Femei de reconfortare]]
[[simple:Comfort women]]
[[th:อิอันฟุ]]
[[tr:Rahatlatıcı Kadınlar]]
[[zh:慰安妇]]