Lola Fidencia David Lobbying in Canada
with supporters, friends and organizers (Canada)“Comfort Women” Motion
That, in the opinion in this House
i. During its wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands, from the 1930s through the duration of World War II, the Imperial Armed Forces of Japan officially commissioned the acquisition of young women for the sole purpose of sexual servitude, who become know as ‘comfort women’; and
ii. That some Japanese public officials have recently expressed a regrettable desire to dilute or rescind the 1993 statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohie Kono on the ‘comfort women’, which expressed the Government’s sincere apologies and remorse for their ordeal; and
iii. That Japan has made progress since 1945 in recognizing and atoning for its past actions, and for many decades has been a major contributor to international peace, security, and development, including through the United Nations; and
iv. That the Canada-Japan alliance continues to be based on shared vital interest and values in the Asia-Pacific region, including the preservation and promotion of political and economic freedoms, support for the human rights and democratic institutions, and the securing of prosperity for the people of both countries and the international community; and
v. That the Government of Canada should therefore encourage the Government of Japan to abandon any statement which devalues the expression of regret from the Kono Statement of 1993; to clearly and publicly refute any claims that the sexual enslavement and trafficking of the ‘comfort women’ for the Japanese Imperial Forces never occurred; 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 those who were victims; and continue to address those affected in spirit of reconciliation.
Proceedings related to the issue of “comfort women” in the House of Commons Debate on
RESULOTION OF COMFORT WOMEN
THE EUROPIAN PARLIAMENT,
- having regard to the 200th anniversary of the abolition to the slave trade in the 2007,
- having regard to the convention for the Suppression of the traffic in Women and Children (1921), of which
- having regard to Forced Labour Convention No. 29 (1930), ratified by
- having regard to United Nation Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and security (2000),
- having regard to the report by Gay McDougall, UN special Rapporteur on Systematic Rape, Sexual Slavery and Slave-like Practices during Armed Conflict (22 June 1998),
- having regard to the conclusions and recommendation of the 38th session of the UN Committee Against Torture (9-10 May 2007),
- having regard to the report of a Study of Dutch Government Documents on the Forced Prostitution of Dutch Women in the Dutch East Indies During the Japanese Occupation, The Hague (2004),
- having regard to the resolution of the America Congress, adopted on
- having regard to Rule 115 of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas the government of Japan, during its colonial and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 1930s until the end of World War II, officially commissioned the acquisition of young women, who became known to the World as ianfu or ‘comfort women’, for the sole purpose of sexual servitude to its imperial Armed Forces,
B. whereas historians conclude that over 100 000 women were enslaved,
C. whereas the ‘comfort women’ system included gang rape, forced abortions, humiliation, and sexual violence resulting in mutilation, death or eventual suicide, in one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century,
D. whereas the dozens of ‘comfort women’ cases brought before Japanese courts have all ended in the dismissal of plaintiffs claims for compensation, despite involvement, and the state’s responsibility,
E. whereas most of the victims of the ‘comfort women’ system have passed away, and the remaining survivors are 80 or more years of age;
F. whereas over the past years numerous high-ranking members and official of the Japanese Government have made apologetic statements on the ‘comfort women’ system while some Japanese officials have recently expressed a regrettable desire to dilute or rescind those statements,
G. whereas the full extent of the sexual slavery system has never been fully disclosed by the government of Japan and some new required reading used in Japanese schools try to minimise the tragedy of the ‘comfort women’ and other Japanese war crimes during World War II,
H. whereas the mandate of the Asia Women’s Fund a government-initiated private foundation whose aim was the implementation of programs and project to compensate for the abuse and suffering of the ‘comfort women’, came to an end on 31 March 2007,
1. Welcomes the excellent relationship between the European Union and
2. Expresses its solidarity with the women who were victims of the ‘comfort women’ system through the duration of World War II;
3. Welcomes the statements by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono in 1993 and by prime minister. Tomichi Murayama in 1994 on ‘comfort women’, as well as the Japanese parliament’s resolution of 1995 to 2005 expressing apologies for wartime victims, including victims of the ‘comfort women’ system;
4. Welcome the Japanese Government’s initiative to establich, in the now-dissolved Asia Women’s Fund, a largely government-funded private foundation, which distributed some atonement money’ to several hundred ‘comfort women’, but considers that this humanitarian initiative cannot satisfy the victims’ claim of legal recognition and reparation under public international law, as stated by the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Gay McDougall, in her 1998 report;
5. Calls on the Japanese Government formally to acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical and legal responsibility, in a clear and unequivocal manner, for its Imperial Armed Force’s coercion of young women into sexual slavery, known to the world as ‘comfort women’, during its colonial and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Island from the 1930s until the end of World War II;
6. Calls on the Japanese Government to implement effective administrative mechanisms to provide reparations to all surviving victims of the ‘comfort women’ system and the families of its deceased victims;
7. Calls on the Japanese National Assembly (Diet) to take legal measures to remove existing obstacles to obtaining reparations before Japanese courts; in particular, the right of individuals to claim reparations against the government should be expressly recognized in national law, and cases for reparations for the survivors of sexual slavery, as a crime under international law, should be prioritized, taking into account the age of the survivors;
8. Calls on the government of
9. Encourage the Japanese people and Government to take further steps to recognize the full history of their nation, as is the moral duty of all countries, and to foster awareness in Japan of its actions in the 1920s and 1940s, including in relation to ‘comfort women’; calls on the government of Japan to educate current and future generation about those events;
10. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Japanese Government and Parliament, the UN Human Right Council, the governments of the ASEAN states, the Democratic People’s
Unanimous Motion accepted by the Dutch Parliament on Comfort Women
08.11.2007 – Motion by Van Baalen and Co. on the subject of the comfort women
The House, having heard the debate,
Considering that Japan is a strategic partner in Asia, with whom the Netherlands has been maintaining relations for 400 years, 150 years of which diplomatic relations by 2008, and with whom our country wants to shape a common future;
Taking the view that Japan should publicly take full responsibility, without any reserve, for the system of forced prostitution as operated in the years before and during the Second World War, and for the suffering thus caused to the so-called comfort women and about which no doubts can and should be raised;
Observing that the Japanese government, by means of the so-called Kono statement from 1993, has acknowledge the fate of the comfort women, has expressed their regret towards the victims and has accepted responsibility with this statement, but at the same time observing that the Japanese government and Japanese members of parliament have, on various occasions, distanced themselves from this, as in shown by the statement by the then prime minister Shinzo Abe last March which were later retracted, and by the advertisement of members of the Japanese House of Representative in the Washington Post earlier this year on the same subject;
Having read the letter which the chairman of the Japanese House of Representatives wrote on 7 November last in reply to the letter of the chairman of the House of 26 June last about the advertisement in the Washington Post and in which he distances himself from said advertisement;
Considering that certain teaching materials in Japanese schools do insufficient justice to the acknowledgement of the Japanese war crimes, among them the treatment of the comfort women;
Considering that Japan, via the Asian Women’s fund, has offered forms of compensation to the former comfort women, partly financed by public funds, but that this compensation was granted by a private organization;
Entreats the government to urgently ask the government of
Entreats the government to urgently ask the government of Japan to make an additional gesture by offering the comfort women still alive today some form of direct moral and financial compensation respectively for the suffering caused;
Entreats the government to urgently ask the government of
And proceeds to the order of the day.
Van Baalen Wilders Van der Staaij
Van Gennip Peters Thieme
Van Dam Voordewind Verdonk
Van Bommel Pechtold
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