COMFORT WOMEN COALITION A MULTI-ETHIC HUMAN RIGHTS COLLABORATION
comfortwomencoalition 09/16 74574.0/1
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | CONTACT: Miho Kim Lee |
| September 15, 2015 | comfortwomencoalition@gmail. (510) 823-9514 |
| WHAT: | Press Conference with the Comfort Women Coalition and an 87-yearold “comfort woman” survivor in advance of a San Francisco Board of Supervisors Committee Hearing to Support a “Comfort Women” Memorial in San Francisco |
| WHEN: | Thursday, September 17, 2015, 1:00 PM |
| WHERE: | San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton Goodlett Place, Room 278, San Francisco, CA 94102 |
| WHO: |
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From the 1930s through the duration of World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army instituted a “comfort women” system where young women and girls were kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery. According to most international historians, the term “comfort women” is an euphemism referring to the estimated 200,000 such victims. A handful of survivors now in their eighties and nineties still seek justice.
In 2001, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution urging the Government of Japan, on the 50th Anniversary of the U.S.-Japan Peace Treaty, to fully acknowledge and apologize for Japan’s wartime atrocities and provide just compensation for the surviving victims of aggression.
In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed Rep. Mike Honda’s bipartisan resolution H.Res. 121, which also called on the Government of Japan to formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility forits Imperial Armed Forces’ coercion of young women into sexual slavery, stating “the ‘comfort women’ system of forced military prostitution
by the Government of Japan, considered unprecedented in its cruelty and magnitude, including 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.”
In 2013, the San Francisco Board passed a resolution condemning Japan’s denial of its system of sexual enslavement during World War II and calling for justice for ‘comfort women.’ In 2014, High Commissioner Navi Pillay, the U.N.’s human rights chief, stated that Japan “has failed to pursue a comprehensive, impartial and lasting resolution” to address the rights of so-called “comfort women.” The U.N. Human Rights Committee called for access to justice and reparations for victims and their families, the disclosure of all evidence available, and education in the country surrounding the issue. The Commissioner stressed, “It is a current issue, as human rights violations against these women continue to occur as long as their rights to justice and reparation are not realized.”
This year 2015 marks the 70th anniversary to the end of World War II (1941-1945) and the Pacific War (1931-1945) and the defeat of Japanese Imperialism and militarism by the Allies.
San Francisco is a city of immigrants and their descendants, many of whom have ancestral ties to Asian and Pacific Islander nations and have direct or indirect experience with Japan’s past system of sexual enslavement.
Leaders of the Japanese American community continueto work closely with the broader Asian Pacific Islander community, as they have in past decades, to strengthen relations and build trust, understanding, and community for civil rights and social justice.
In the spirit of Holocaust memorials throughout theworld, CWC urges the establishment of a “Comfort Women” Memorial in San Francisco, joining other U.S. municipalities that have such memorials, including Glendale and Rohnert Park, CA;Long Island, NY; Palisades Park and Union City, NJ; Fairfax, VA; and Michigan City, MI to bring truth and reconciliation and to remember the past so that people from all nations can move forward toward a peaceful and secure future. San Francisco, home to the signing of both the U.N. Charter and the Peace Treaty with Japan (also known as the San Francisco Treaty), is a natural place for such a memorial.
The memorial will also serve as a reminder that we must collectively work to end today’s human trafficking problem, exploiting an estimated 20.9 million victims globally, of which 55% are women and girls. Forced labor and human trafficking worldwide is a $150 billion criminal industry and San Francisco is considered a desired destination hub because of its transport accessibility and its large immigrant population.
