Japan sex slavery denial decried

Women's rights activists in the Philippines have denounced a comment by Japan's prime minister that there is no evidence Japanese soldiers forced women into sexual slavery during World War II.

Japan sex slavery denial decried
Thousands of women from the Philippines and other Japanese-occupied nations were forced to work in brothels run by Japan's military during the war.
 
"We are enraged," said Rechilda Extremadura, executive director of Lila Pilipina, an organisation of rights activists and former Filipino wartime sex slaves.
 
"We will not allow them to deny it just like that."
 

Responding to a recent US congressional resolution calling for Japan's leader to formally acknowledge and apologise for the wartime sexual slavery, Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minsiter, told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday that "there was no evidence to prove there was coercion as initially suggested".

 

Representative Liza Maza of the left-wing Gabriela women's party said Abe's statement was "an affront to all women victims of Japanese military's sexual slavery" during the war.

 

"My God. There are so many living survivors of such atrocity," she said.

 

'Comfort women' 

 

Extremadura said 120 are still alive among 174 documented Filipino "comfort women", the term used to refer to sex slaves provided to Japanese troops, who invaded the Philippines in 1942.

 

Japan's military seized thousands of women from Korea, China, the Philippines and other places during the war and shipped them across Asia to provide sex for their troops.

 

Historians say up to 200,000 women were involved.

 

Tokyo has generally refused to pay damages to individuals for the war, and says the issue was settled between governments in postwar treaties.

 

Japanese courts have rejected a number of lawsuits brought by former sex slaves.

 

A private fund, set up by Japan in 1995 to compensate sex slaves, will expire this month.

Güncelleme Tarihi: 20 Eylül 2018, 18:16
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