Canada’s
parliament on Thursday (Nov. 29) passed a motion that called for Japan to
make a “formal and sincere” apology to women who were forced to serve as
sex slaves to Imperial Japanese forces before and during World War II.
The motion passed by the House of Commons calls on Japan 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 to all of those who were victims."
It urges Japan "to clearly and publicly refute any claims that the
sexual enslavement and trafficking of the ’comfort women’ never
occurred" and "to continue to address those affected in a spirit
of reconciliation."
Japan has been refusing to address the wartime sex crimes, citing either
lack of evidence or that monetary compensation had been included in
treaties long time ago.
New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament Olivia Chow, who sponsored
the motion, insisted that an adequate apology is yet to come. Chow gave the
example of a 15-year old girl whose arm was broken during the course of her
abduction. She was repeatedly raped by around 11 men per day and received
no medical attention for her wounds, according to Reuters.
"Sexual slavery is a crime against humanity and all of the world’s
citizens have a responsibility to speak out against it," Chow
reportedly said before the vote.
Historians estimate that as many as 200,000 Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese,
Filipino, Indonesian, Japanese and other women were taken to Japanese army
brothels either by force or trickery to serve as sex slaves from 1937 -
1945.
The US House of Representatives and the Dutch Parliament passed similar
motions earlier this year.
