23 August 2013 - ECCHR together with the Philippine Center for
International Law (CenterLaw) submitted a petition to the Philippine Supreme
Court. ECCHR is calling for individual compensation to be provided to
Philippine survivors of sexual violence (“comfort women”) during the Second World
War.
Since 2004 CenterLaw has represented 70 members of the Malaya Lolas
organization, a survivors organization. The Malaya Lolas are calling on the
Philippine government to support their compensation claim against Japan. During
the Japanese occupation, Japanese military leadership ordered the establishment
of a system of forced prostitution – or “comfort stations” – in the
Philippines. In April 2010, the Philippine Supreme Court turned down the
claimants’ appeal.
In the petition, submitted in relation to a new hearing on the case, ECCHR
stresses that already at the time of the Second World War, the systematic
wartime enslavement of women constituted a violation of international law and
that the survivors have a right to individual compensation. The petition is
supported by international legal experts including Theo van Boven, Patricia
Viseur Sellers, Andreas Fischer-Lescano and Ustinia Dolgopol.
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