Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the over 200,000 ``comfort women'' in Asia who suffered unimaginable dehumanization by the Japanese Imperial Army during Japan's colonial and wartime…
Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the over 200,000 ``comfort women'' in Asia who suffered unimaginable dehumanization by the Japanese Imperial Army during Japan's colonial and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 1930s through the duration of World War II.
These women, whose experiences were unprecedented in cruelty and were officially commissioned by the Government of Japan, endured gang rape, forced abortions, humiliation, and sexual violence resulting in mutilation, death, or eventual suicide--and to this date, they have still not received justice from this tragedy.
Their hope is a modest one: That the government of Japan acknowledges, apologizes and accepts full historical responsibility for this crime.
Today, I am introducing a resolution which calls on Japan to formally and unambiguously apologize and acknowledge the tragedy which the comfort women endured under its Imperial Army during World War II. Not only should Japan's Prime Minister issue a public apology, Japan must take responsibility unequivocally.
Some question whether this resolution is necessary and warn that it could affect our nation's strong friendship and alliance with Japan. Some even argue that Japan has already apologized, and this resolution fails to recognize that. It is true that Japan's previous Prime Ministers have issued statements related to comfort women. However, it is clear that these statements are not viewed by the government of Japan with unequivocal respect, and the comfort women themselves do not consider them formal apologies. Japan has equivocated in its stance on this issue, which is made clear in their recent attempts to alter previous public statements and their school textbooks.
For example, in 1993, Japan's then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono issued an encouraging statement regarding Japan's comfort women, which expressed the Government's sincere apologies and remorse for their ordeal. Today, some members of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party strive to review and even possibly rescind Secretary Kono's statement.
Further, the Japanese government continues to seek to downplay the comfort women system in its textbooks. We must ask ourselves, if Japan has truly come to terms with its past in acknowledging what its Imperial Army forced upon these women, why are they suppressing the knowledge of this through education? Education on this tragedy is important to ensure that future violence against women, especially in conflicts, should not be tolerated or repeated. Textbook suppression, coupled with efforts to revise Secretary Kono's 1993 statement, is disheartening and indicates that Japan wavers in its apology to these women.
I want to make it clear that I recognize and value the importance of our strong friendship with Japan. I appreciate Japan's efforts to provide monetary compensation to surviving comfort women through the Asia Women's Fund, a government-initiated and largely government-funded private foundation whose purpose was the carrying out of programs and projects with the aim of atonement for the comfort women. The Asia Women's Fund is to be disbanded on March 31, 2007, and while I agree that the Asia Women's Fund was important, the reality is that the majority of surviving
comfort women refused to accept these funds, and that without an unambiguous and unequivocal apology from the government of Japan, the money was not significant to them.
The purpose of this resolution is not to bash or humiliate Japan. This is about achieving justice for the few remaining women who survived this atrocity. We must recognize this grave human rights violation, which has remained unknown for so many years.
Further, this resolution is intended to encourage and provide for reconciliation, as the U.S. Congress did when it passed H.R. 442, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which was a formal apology made to U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry who were unjustly put into internment camps during World War II. As someone who was put into an internment camp at a young age, I know firsthand that we must not be ignorant of the past, and that reconciliation through government actions is long lasting.
I would be remiss if I failed to recognize the efforts that my good friend and former colleague Lane Evans made to push this issue forward in Congress. I am proud to be carrying the torch that Lane passed on, and commend him for the hope he has instilled in the comfort women and the communities that have worked so hard on their behalf by bringing this issue to Congress.
Madam Speaker, to put it frankly, the few surviving comfort women in the world who live with this burden are dying. We must help them achieve some peace of mind by moving this resolution forward. For the women who survived this brutality, this resolution demonstrates that our nation supports them and hears their voices calling for justice.
