EU passes resolution on Japanese-enslaved ‘comfort women’

MEPs have called on the Japanese government to recognise the plight of so-called ‘comfort women’ enslaved during the second world war.

In a joint motion for a resolution issued Thursday in Strasbourg, 54 MEPs voted to petition the Japanese government to “formally acknowledge, apologise and accept historical and legal responsibility, in a clear and unequivocal manner” for the coercion of women into sexual slavery in Asia and the Pacific in the 1930s and ‘40s.

Green MEP Jean Lambert, who developed the motion following a hearing in the European parliament in November, said:

“With the signing of the charter of fundamental human rights this week and voting almost unanimously in favour of this motion on ‘comfort women’ there is wide consensus in the European parliament that violations of human rights, under any circumstances, will not be tolerated.

"Over sixty years on, the 'comfort women' are still battling to restore their dignity. A resolution like this one is important not only for the individual but for the message it conveys."

Historians conclude that over 100,000 and as many as 200,000 women were enslaved and subjected to gang rape, forced abortion, humiliation and sexual violence in one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century.

Dutch ALDE MEP Sophia in 't Veld spoke about the lack of enthusiasm in parliament during the course of getting the resolution passed.

"It has taken us five months to get this on the agenda," she said.

"The reluctance in parliament, and even within my own group, for this issue shows that it's necessary to underline that women's rights are human rights."

As part of Amnesty International’s ‘Stop violence against women’ campaign, three survivors from the Philippines, Korea and the Netherlands testified in November in the European parliament to urge the EU to make a public statement on the issue.

Seventy-eight-year-old Menen Castillo, the national representative of the Filipino survivors, was 13 when she was taken by Japanese soldiers raiding the village of Pampanga in the northern Philippines in 1942.

“If the world turns a deaf ear, it is like condoning what has been done,” she said at Amnesty headquarters in Brussels in November.

“By helping me, by punishing those who have done wrong, we are promising a safer world.”

Amnesty International welcomed parliament’s resolution, saying, “This important resolution follows similar statements by the US congress and the Canadian and Dutch parliaments.

“All call on the Japanese government to formally acknowledge its historical responsibility for this systematic abuse, as well as apologise to and compensate the victims.”

The term ‘comfort woman’ is a translation of the Japanese ‘jugun ianfu’ and is a euphemism for sexual enslavement. Survivors of the system, most of whom are over 80 years old, are unanimous in their condemnation of the Japanese authorities turning a blind eye to the ‘comfort women’ system.

It wasn’t until 1992, after evidence was uncovered by historian Yoshimi Yoshiaki, that the Japanese government was forced to admit its involvement.

There has yet to be a judicial tribunal or inquiry into the system, and according to a 2005 Amnesty International report, “military control of the ‘comfort women’ system was organised at the highest level”, including as far up as the war ministry , who are quoted as being involved in a “recruitment process” for the ‘comfort stations’.

But according to the European parliament’s resolution, the dozens of cases brought before Japanese courts have all ended in the dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims for compensation, despite court judgements acknowledging the armed forces’ direct involvement.

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