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Civic group to campaign for former sex slaves at U.N.
By Korea HeraldPublished : Sept. 9, 2013 - 20:38
A South Korean civic group said Monday it plans to hold an event calling for a swift resolution of Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement during a United Nations council meeting in Geneva this week.
The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, along with Amnesty International, is scheduled to host a two-hour forum on Wednesday (Swiss time) during the 24th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council that runs from Sept. 9-27.
During the event, civic activists and experts from around the world plan to make presentations showing how Japan has been trying to avoid its responsibility to the victims as well as the work several countries have done to persuade Tokyo to acknowledge its past wrongdoings and make appropriate compensations.
Pablo de Greiff, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, is also set to speak on Japan’s compensation obligations, while Kim Bok-dong, a 88-year-old Korean victim of Japan‘s sexual slavery, will share her tragic story and to call for joint efforts to resolve the grievance.
“The event is part of our ongoing efforts to raise the international awareness on the sex slavery issue and to press Japan to face the bare facts and to act,” an official of the civic group said.
Following the Geneva event, the officials and the elderly victim plan to fly to France to conduct diverse campaign-raising activities including meetings with government officials and lawmakers to appeal for their interests and support, he added.
Up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were mobilized as sex slaves, euphemistically called “comfort women,” during Japan’s brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
With memories of the painful history still vivid, Japan has ignored Seoul‘s call for a formal apology and compensation, and has even tried to deny the facts.
Kim is among 57 surviving victims registered with the South Korean government out of a total of 234 victims who were initially on the list. Most victims are well over 80 years old, making the issue of resolving their grievances the more urgent. (Yonhap News)
The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, along with Amnesty International, is scheduled to host a two-hour forum on Wednesday (Swiss time) during the 24th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council that runs from Sept. 9-27.
During the event, civic activists and experts from around the world plan to make presentations showing how Japan has been trying to avoid its responsibility to the victims as well as the work several countries have done to persuade Tokyo to acknowledge its past wrongdoings and make appropriate compensations.
Pablo de Greiff, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, is also set to speak on Japan’s compensation obligations, while Kim Bok-dong, a 88-year-old Korean victim of Japan‘s sexual slavery, will share her tragic story and to call for joint efforts to resolve the grievance.
“The event is part of our ongoing efforts to raise the international awareness on the sex slavery issue and to press Japan to face the bare facts and to act,” an official of the civic group said.
Following the Geneva event, the officials and the elderly victim plan to fly to France to conduct diverse campaign-raising activities including meetings with government officials and lawmakers to appeal for their interests and support, he added.
Up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were mobilized as sex slaves, euphemistically called “comfort women,” during Japan’s brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
With memories of the painful history still vivid, Japan has ignored Seoul‘s call for a formal apology and compensation, and has even tried to deny the facts.
Kim is among 57 surviving victims registered with the South Korean government out of a total of 234 victims who were initially on the list. Most victims are well over 80 years old, making the issue of resolving their grievances the more urgent. (Yonhap News)
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Articles by Korea Herald
