WUNRN
European Center for Constitutional
& Human Rights - ECCHR
COMPENSATION SOUGHT FOR SEXUAL
SLAVERY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR
During the Japanese occupation in the Second World War
countless women were forced into prostitution in so-called ‘comfort stations’.
To date the former ‘comfort women’ have been unsuccessful in their attempts to
gain acknowledgment and compensation for their suffering.
Our partner organization in
the Philippines, CenterLaw, and the Malaya Lolas, an organization for
survivors, approached us to suggest that we collaborate on the issue. In March
of this year, during our workshops in Manila, ECCHR and CenterLaw staff met in
order to develop new strategies. This cooperation is of great interest to
ECCHR, since the issue of sexualized violence represents the focus of our
gender work and also because the direct contact with affected individuals who
are actively working on the issue on the ground is particularly important to
us.
CenterLaw currently has an
appeal pending before the Philippine courts requesting the reconsideration of a
case taken by survivors that had been rejected by the Philippine Supreme Court
in 2010. Politically, one complicating factor is the Peace Treaty of 1951,
which waived all claims to compensation on the part of the Philippines.
In order to lend legal
support to the survivors of the system of forced prostitution, ECCHR submit a
petition to the Philippine Supreme Court in August 2013 as an additional party
to the proceedings. The petition points out that at the time of Second World
War, the systematic wartime enslavement of women represented a breach of
international law and that the survivors now have a right to individual
compensation.
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23 August 2013 - The European Center for
Constitutional & Human Rights (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 (so-called “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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