Handouts for Grades 11-12

Handout 4.2: What Victims and Survivors Want


The following summarizes information from various publications and web pages about what the victims and survivors of the Japanese atrocities want.
  • Survivors want a full and sincere apology resolution to be passed by the Upper House and the Lower House of the Japanese parliament (the Diet).
  • They want compensation for the damages and suffering inflicted.
  • They want the Japanese government to follow the example of Germany and make commitments such as the following to ensure that such atrocities never happen again:
· provide school education on humanity issues of the Asia-Pacific War

· establish museums for public education on crimes against humanity in the Asia-Pacific War

· legislate a national day of remembrance for victims of Japanese Imperial forces aggression and atrocities

· public denial of war crimes committed by the Japanese imperial forces is to be outlawed

· legislate domestic laws to prosecute, for crimes against humanity, the many Japanese war criminals who escaped war crime trials after the end of the war


The following are quotations from various associations supporting victims and survivors.

“Although they expressed their regret and sorrow about what they did to Koreans whenever the Japanese Prime Ministers had diplomatic meetings in Korea, especially with respect to Korean women during the colonization period, this was challenged and denied by Japanese cabinet members." (The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan )

" the Peace Treaty was a compromise between the principle that Japan was liable to pay compensation for violations of the law for which it was responsible and the recognition of the reality that the condition of Japan in the aftermath of the war was such that it could not be expected to pay full compensation at that time. The Allied States therefore waived most of their claims on the Inter-State level in order to assist Japanese recovery. It is entirely compatible with that approach that they intended to leave open the possibility of individuals bringing claims in the Japanese courts but based upon international law once that recovery had taken place." (The Association of British Civilian Internees Far East Region)

“.... the individual human rights of the Hong Kong Veterans are not affected by the Peace Treaty as the governmental representatives of the countries who were the signatories to the Treaty had no authority or mandate to release these basic legal rights..." (The War Amputees of Canada in association with the Hong Kong Veterans Association of Canada )

"While my report [study report for UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights on systematic rape and sexual slavery during armed conflict] welcomes the expression of atonement and support from the people of Japan , it maintains that the Asian Women Fund does not satisfy the legal responsibility of the Government of Japan toward the survivors of Japan military sexual slavery. The Fund has been the focus of a great deal of divisiveness and controversy, and a majority of survivors have not accepted it. So long as it is seen as vehicle for Japan to avoid its legal obligation to pay compensation, all the good that the Asian Women Fund tries to do will be under a cloud of suspicion and resentment." (Gay J. McDougall, Special Rapporteur of United Nations Commission on Human Rights)

"If Japan 's `Peace Exchange Fund' is used to propagate Japanese culture, then it cannot be used as a means of atonement for Japanese war crimes." (The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for the Military Sexual Slavery by Japan )


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