Benutzer:Shi Annan/Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan

The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan

The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (commonly known as The Korean Council) is a Korean non-governmental organization advocating the rights of the surviving comfort women and lobbying the Japan government to take actions of a full apology and compensation.

History / Origin / Background

Background

So called 'comfort women(Hangul: 위안부)' are the victims of the Japanese military sexual slavery before and during the World War II. Among the estimated total of 200,000 women, 80-90 percent were recruited from Korea because of its status under the Japanese colonization. There are 208 officially registered victims in South Korea, though it is very likely that there is a number of more unknown survivors.

(- the absence of comfort women issue in the international war tribunals

- the reluctance of Japan

- the South Korean governmental use of Japan's war compensation payment for the state-led economic development

- the norm of entrenched patriarchal Confucianism faulted the "defiled women" for failing to preserve their "chastity" condemning the survivors to silence.) - need to be explained

The issue of the comfort women began to emerge only in the late 1980s with democratization. In a more open atmosphere, there was a group of progressive Christian women starting to inquire into the issue of comfort women. Subsequently, the claim of a Japanese official completely denying state involvement in the recruitment by laying the blame on the private traffickers triggered the formation of a coalition which established the Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Hangul: 한국정신대문제대책협의회) in November 1990. The Korean Council was a unification of mostly women's group including the Korea Women's Hotline and Korea Women's Associations United, and a few religious organizations such as the Buddhist Human Rights Committee and the National Council of Churches as well.

The early movements

In 1991, Kim Hak Soon, a former comfort woman, contacted the Korean Council and revealed her story on televised broadcast. Her initiative encouraged other survivors to share their experiences, so the Korean Council installed a hotline for them. Prompted by a series of revelations, the Ministry of Health and Welfare was established to officially recognize the victims and provide them financial aid, free health care, and the right to rent public housing.

In January 1992, the Korean Council led a protest in front of the Japanese Prime Minister Miyazawa's hotel. Since then, Wednesday Demonstration started to be held on every Wednesday until now. The Korean Council urged the Japanese government to take the following actions on behalf of the victims.

1. Acknowledge the war crime

2. Reveal the truth in its entirely about the crimes of military sexual slavery

3. Make an official apology

4. Make legal reparations

5. Punish those responsible for the war crime (added in 1992?)

6. Accurately record the crime in history textbooks

7. Erect a memorial for the victims of the military sexual slavery and establish a historical museum

However, the Japanese government did not intend to comply with the demands. In the investigative report on comfort women in July 1992, Japan insisted that "all claims were waived by post-war treaties" with apologies.

Reforming the identity of the council at the international stage

From 1992 the Korean Council took the comfort women issue to the United Nations by being a participant in the UN Commission on Human Rights and its sub-Comission as a member of the World Council of Churches, which accredited the Korean Council to attend session of the UN. The World Alliance of Reformed Churches and Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law & Development came to support the Korean Council as well. The request of the Korean Council to conduct a field mission was approved in the International Commission of Jurists, and two members were dispatched to South Korea, the Philippines, North Korea, and Japan. The conclusion of the mission was that "Japan violated international law and was under obligation to pay compensation to the victims." It became a critical moment of presenting the comfort women issue to the international human rights forum.

As the council initiated the process of lobbying the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), it resolved itself to integrate human rights norms. The council was influenced by the concept of reparation by Theo van Boven which suggests that reparation "not only includes material compensation but also restitution, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guaranteeing non-repetition". According to his concept, the identity of the Korean Council was reframed as a human rights advocacy. Following that, the representatives of the Korean Council filed a request for the indictment of the Japanese Imperial Army to the Tokyo Prosecutor's Office in response to Japan's rejection of providing compensations to individual victims in 1994. The legitimacy of the complaints was brought by van Boven's idea of "obligation to compensate for non-punishment". However, the submission of the criminal complaint was denied.

Transnational Solidarity Movements

- Solidarity activities with other Asian victimized countries like Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia which ultimately led to the Asian Solidarity Conference on the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, the venue to share information and come up with common strategies and future directions of the movement.

- Trips abroad to educate the public and publish the issue. Public testimony by a survivor.

- 1997. the Korean Council started to hold public forum in Geneva focusing on violence against women during war and armed conflict. (organizing public forums on the issue of comfort women)

The backing of women's human rights groups

Funding

The Butterfly Fund

Objectives

To restore the victims' dignity and rebuke the crime of the sexual slavery, the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan urges the Japanese government to carry out the following actions.

"This is to restore the abused rights of the women : to stop wartime violence against women : to correct the distorted history between Korea and Japan : to prevent the reemerging of Japanese militarism : and to build pease in Asia and the world as a whole."

Activities

Welfare Activities for the Survivors

- The survivors have been scapegoats of a purist ideology in Korea's patriarchal structure and distorted gender culture, which has given them a painful life. - how they recognize their existence and become more confident

Criticism / Controversies

"The Korean Council at the center of this controversy, which advocates for the rights of Korean former comfort women, has been criticized for its strident nationalism and held responsible for the stalemate." (https://web-a-ebscohost-com.proxy.ubishops.ca:2443/ehost/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=a03e2012-8de3-4039-a2d6-432c1ca135ed%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=112454714&db=a9h) : Can Transnational Feminist Solidarity Accommodate Nationalism? Reflections from the Case Study of Korean 'Comfort Women'.

comment

This is an excellent start! You already have a pretty good draft ready to go, once you fill in some of the missing sections. An imprtant topic, well described in this entry. Dwebsterbu (talk) 14:49, 17 February 2018 (UTC)