The Japan Times
June 3, 1999
Gay McDougall, a U.N. special investigator on human rights, has urged
the government to admit its legal liability and provide compensation
to Asian women forced into prostitution before and during World War
II.
McDougall, who last August issued a report calling for reparations
for the wartime operation, denounced the Japanese military's abuse
of
Asian women as "one of the most egregious examples of wartime
systematic rape and sexual slavery in history."
"What the government of Japan can actually do for the former 'comfort
women' is to acknowledge its legal liability," she said.
McDougall, an American international law specialist, was speaking at
a forum held Tuesday and Wednesday in Tokyo to commemorate the
publication of the report's Japanese translation.
The Japanese government has argued that compensation for wartime
victims including comfort women was settled through peace treaties
and reparations agreements following the war.
But McDougall said Japan should compensate individual victims to help
them recover their honor and dignity.
Also, she said, the government, which had denied until recently the
very existence of sex slaves, should not claim the issue was settled
50 years ago.
"The importance of truth does not diminish with the passage of time.
... If the cycle of impunity is not broken, it will continue
to
happen in the future," McDougall said, adding that individual
Japanese military officials must be prosecuted for any unlawful acts
they committed.
Although the government-backed Asian Women's Fund has helped through
the distribution of "atonement" money and seminars held to educate
people on the issue, the U.N. investigator said it is not a
substitute for the government taking legal responsibility.
The controversial fund was established in 1995 to extend financial
support to former sex slaves, but some victims refused to accept the
money, saying it just allowed the government to evade its
responsibility.
McDougall said it is not enough to admit the truth and move on.
"People need to be educated, and efforts to rewrite history and deny
the facts need to be vigorously countered."
She said she is "painfully aware" that time is running out due to the
old age of both the victims and perpetrators of Japan's sexual
slavery, and urged Japanese citizens to "keep pressing" the
government to carry out the recommendations she made in her report.
"Through truth and justice come reconciliation and healing -- and
where there is healing for the past, there is hope for the future."
During a panel discussion Wednesday, Chuo University history
Professor Yoshiaki Yoshimi said Japan's failure to provide redress
for the former comfort women partly stems from Japanese people's
failure to acknowledge that the legalized prostitution system that
continued until 1958 was sexual slavery.
"They were actually slaves who were confined in brothels because they
had a large amount of debt," said Yoshimi, an expert on the sex slave
issue.
Lawyer Noriko Omori, who represents six former Chinese sex slaves
suing the government for compensation, said McDougall's report made
a
great impact on the Japanese.
"Japan is like a secluded state in terms of human rights," Omori
said. "By reading the report, I hope the Japanese will give more
attention to the world trend on international human rights laws
(which can hold individuals and the state responsible for war
crimes)."
In her August report submitted to the U.N. Subcommission on
Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, McDougall
recommended that the Japanese government establish a body to
investigate the sex slave issue, prosecute those responsible and
compensate the victims. She also said the government should
periodically submit a report to the U.N. secretary general on its
progress.
The government does not agree with the contents of the McDougall
report or her recommendations.
McDougall will submit her next report to the U.N. body in August,
which she said will cover human rights violations in Indonesia,
including violence in East Timor.
