WUNRN
Netherlands
Adopts Resolution on `Comfort Women'
A resolution
on ``comfort women'' by the Netherlands' lower house reflects rising
international condemnation of the Japanese military's sexual enslavement of
young women in Asia during World War II. It is encouraging news for the victims
of Japanese aggression and brutal colonialism. We welcome the resolution and
call on Japan to sincerely repent and apologize for its past atrocities.
On Thursday, the Dutch lower chamber of parliament unanimously passed the
resolution urging Japan to apologize for its wartime sex slavery. The
resolution also demands that the Japanese government pay compensation to former
``comfort women,'' a euphemism for sexual slaves for frontline Japanese troops.
It marked the first time that a European country has adopted such a measure.
Hans van Baalen, the sponsor of the resolution, said he cannot condone attempts
by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other Japanese politicians to avoid
responsibility for the past brutality. He is a Dutch member of parliament of
the liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. It goes without saying
that the mobilization of comfort women was the largest human trafficking scheme
in the 20th century. Japan should not make any more efforts to deny its wartime
misdeeds.
The act of condemnation came after the U.S. House of Representatives approved a
similar resolution in July. The resolution requested the Tokyo government to
formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility for the
coercion of young women into sexual slavery. The move by the parliaments of the
Netherlands and the U.S. indicates that the international community has begun
to recognize the seriousness of Japan's past crime against humanity.
Furthermore, the European Parliament is actively pushing for a similar
resolution. Three survivors of the sexual enslavement in wartime Japanese camps
testified to the parliament for the first time on Nov. 6. The three women were
Gil Won-ok, 79, from South Korea; Ellen van der Ploeg, 84, from the
Netherlands; and Menen Castillo, 78, from the Philippines. Amnesty
International hosted the hearing in which the victims told about their pain and
suffering. On Nov. 2, they also visited the Netherlands' parliament in The
Hague to convey a letter condemning Japan's past wrongdoings.
An estimated 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and other Asian
countries were forced to serve as sexual slaves for Japanese soldiers. The
victims also included Dutch nationals who lived in Indonesia under Japanese
rule during WWII. Most of them have died. Only a small number of them are still
alive. Thus, the Japanese government must take immediate action before it's too
late. If it fails to do so, Japan will inevitably face mounting global criticism
for its wartime atrocities.
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