Wartime sex slaves verdict a breakthrough

Wartime sex slaves verdict a breakthrough

TOKYO: In a damning and historic judgment, a Japanese court
Monday ordered the government to compensate three former Korean
"comfort women" who were forced into sexual slavery by the
Japanese army during the World War II.

Judge Hideaki Chikashita said the treatment of the women was
"a clear case of sexual and ethnic discrimination as a well as a
violation of the human rights enshrined in the constitution".

The court told the government to pay 300,000 yen (US$2,290) in
compensation to each of the three women. It was the first ruling
in favor of plaintiffs seeking compensation from Tokyo for their
suffering during the war.

The judge was scathingly critical of the government's failure
to pass laws to provide official compensation, despite admitting
its involvement in the women's conscription. Historians estimate
that up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, were forced to
provide sex for Japanese soldiers in military brothels before and
during the war.

Although Tokyo admitted in 1992 that the wartime government
had helped to set up such brothels, it has refused to pay direct
compensation to the women, arguing that the issue was settled by
peace treaties. Instead, it has set up a private fund, which has
paid former sex slaves more than pounds 45,000 in the past two
years.

Many of the women have refused the money, saying the
government is evading its responsibility.

Monday's ruling was the first of six suits brought by former
comfort women against the government. The rest are still pending.
Lee Sun-dok, aged 79, from Kwangju, South Korea, testified that
she had been taken to China in 1937 on a false promise of work,
then confined and forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers
until the end of the war in 1945.

The judge accepted that she and two other plaintiffs had been
"brought to the brothels without knowing their destinations and
then made to work as comfort women by force".

They were among 10 plaintiffs demanding $4 million and an
official apology from the government. The court rejected the
claims of the seven other women, who had been forced to work in
factories, and ruled that the government was not obliged to
apologize.

At a news conference after the judgment, Ms Lee demanded a
"proper apology and compensation". She called the amount awarded
an insult to women "who were treated lower than human beings".
Human rights groups in Japan and abroad also criticized the
amount of compensation, though they hailed the landmark ruling.

"This is a very unusual and encouraging decision. It will help
us in our fight," said Koken Tsuchiya, a lawyer who is trying to
convince the parliament to pass a law permitting compensation.

The ruling is expected to affect relations between Japan and
South Korea, which this month set up its own fund to help the
comfort women while repeating demands for Tokyo to pay official
compensation.

In Japan, the issue continues to provoke heated debate. A
strong rightwing lobby insists that the women were willing
prostitutes and demands that the government delete references to
the issue from school textbooks, which were only allowed to cover
the subject three years ago.

-- Guardian News Service