WUNRN
COMFORT WOMEN - WORLD WAR II
MILITARY SEX SLAVES OF THE JAPANESE
Comfort Women - Waiting for
Justice after 62 Years
5 July 2008
"The Japanese Government thinks that if
all comfort women die, it will be buried and forgotten. But it won’t. As long
as our next generation knows about it, it will not be forgotten."
Gil Won-Ok (below, right), former "Comfort Woman" from
© Paula Allen 
Thousands of women known as "comfort women"
were forced into servitude by the Government of Japan for the armed forces in
the 1930s before and after the Second World War. In what became known as a
system of "military sexual slavery", women were abducted, beaten, raped
and coerced into providing sexual services for the Japanese military.
The full extent of the sexual slavery system has never been fully disclosed by the Government of Japan, though it is thought that as many as 200,000 women were enslaved. The Government of Japan continues to refuse to officially acknowledge its responsibility for these crimes. ©Paula Allen
The "comfort women" system of forced military
prostitution allowed for a range of abuses, such as sexual violence including
gang rape and forced abortions, in what has been described as "one of the
largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century."
Many of these women continue to suffer the consequences of these abuses
and are courageously speaking out about their experiences and campaigning for
justice. Pressure is mounting on
Resolutions have been passed in the
- accept full responsibility for the abuses of
"comfort women"
- officially apologize for the crimes committed
against the women
- provide adequate and effective compensation
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