A/HRC/24/NGO/X

United Nations

General AssemblyDistr.: Generaldate
English only

Human Rights Council
Twenty-fourth session
Agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including theright to development

Written statement* submitted by Human Rights Now, a nongovernmental organization in special consultative status*
The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated inaccordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.
[22 August 2013]*GE.13-This written statement is issued, unedited, in the language(s) received from the submitting
non-governmental organization(s).

A/HRC/24/NGO/X

Civil society calls for truth, justice, reparation andguarantees of non-repetition towards Japan’s military sexualslavery during WWII
Human Rights Now (HRN), a Tokyo based international human rights NGO would like to state its
utmost concern with apparent attempts by the Japanese government to evade its obligations tovictims of forced sexual slavery during World War II.
Through continued denial of the facts, the recent comments and remarks of senior politicians, alongwith both ignoring and rejecting recommendations proposed by various UN human rights
mechanisms, the government of Japan has demonstrated an attitude of continual refusal to accept its
responsibility and administer acceptable victim centred resolutions to these issues.
The Japanese military established and operated the so-called ‘comfort women’ system during theSecond World War, in which it's estimated that up to 200,000 young women and girls fromcountries and territories under Japanese control or occupation were coerced into institutionalized
sexual slavery. Although the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court does notretroactively apply to this case, it should be noted that it does stipulate that sexual slavery in armed
conflict constitutes a crime against humanity (Article 7, paragraph 1 (g)).
There is worldwide recognition based on the fact-finding endeavours and extensive research ofscholars, citizens and governments concerned that the government of Japan is obliged (1) topublicly acknowledge legal responsibility for the crime of sexual slavery and to offer an official
apology; (2) to provide the victims and survivors full and effective redress and reparation, includingcompensation, satisfaction and the means for as full a rehabilitation as possible; (3) to disclose
related materials, and investigate the facts thoroughly; and (4) to prosecute and punish perpetratorswith appropriate penalties.
The same views were reflected in reports filed by the UN Special Rapporteurs on Violence against
Women, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy and her successor Ms. Gay J. McDougall in 1996 and 1998
respectively. The Special Rapporteurs’ views, analysis and recommendations have been endorsedby many other UN human rights mechanisms such as the Human Rights Council and its predecessor
the Commission on Human Rights, the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on theElimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on Economic, Social and CulturalRights (CESCR), the Committee against Torture (CAT) and several special procedures’ mandateholders of the Human Rights Council.
For instance, in May this year in their concluding observations on the periodic reports of Japan, theCommittee on the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) and the Committee againstTorture (CAT) expressed their concern about “the lasting negative effects of the exploitation towhich ‘comfort women’ were subjected on their enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights
and their entitlement to reparation” (CESCR), and Japan’s failure to meet its obligations under thetreaty (the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment orPunishment), and made recommendations accordingly. The CAT, in particular, urged Japan to take
immediate and effective legislative and administrative measures to find a victim-centered resolution
for these issues.

2

A/HRC/24/NGO/X

However, Japan has either ignored or rejected most of the recommendations made by the UN
human rights mechanisms. Instead of making efforts to take actions as recommended, the Abecabinet announced its decision on July 1st that there was no obligation to follow therecommendations “because the treaty bodies’ concluding observations are not legally binding.”
This kind of action represents not only unacceptable arrogance of a state party but is also damaging
to the monitoring mechanisms of human rights treaties.
As the Committee against Torture points out, official denial of the facts and re-traumatization of thevictims by high-level national and local officials and politicians, including Prime Ministers and dietmembers, continues and has in fact escalated over the last few years. Prime Minister Abe, alongwith Mr. Tohru Hashimoto, Mayor of Osaka City and co-founder of the nationalist Japanese
Restoration Party, has claimed that there is ‘no evidence’ of forced conscription of women by theJapanese authorities. Mr. Hashimoto also stated that ‘comfort women’ were "necessary" tomaintain discipline of Japan's wartime troops and provide relief for soldiers. By saying so, heapparently tried to justify the Japanese military’s sexual slavery practices and defended serious
violations of human rights as a necessity. He added that it was unfair to single out Japan because
other countries engaged in similar practices. Prime Minister Abe has not hesitated to suggest that hewould no longer stand by Japan's apology for its war-time aggression, saying there is no establisheddefinition of "aggression". The censorship of history textbooks has been strengthened. These
attempts at flagrantly challenging undeniable facts of the past and rewriting history are an indicationof the worsening attitude of the government of Japan in addressing the issues of war crimes
committed by Japan.
HRN recommends that the Human Rights Council urge the government of Japan to act incompliance with the recommendations made by UN human rights bodies.
In light of UN General Assembly Resolution 60/147 adopted in 2005 on the “Basic Principles andGuidelines in the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations ofInternational Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Human Rights Law” thatclarifies that victims of gross violations of international human rights law should be provided withfull and effective reparation, including restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, andguarantees of non-repetition, HRN welcomes the appointment of the Special Rapporteur on thepromotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.
HRN hopes that Mr. Pablo de Greiff will make a visit to Japan in the near future to investigate thesituation. At the same time, HRN strongly feels the need to create an additional mechanism that will
enable the Human Rights Council to effectively prevent UN member states, particularly themembers of the Human Rights Council, from concealing or denying the facts relating to sexual
violence under armed conflict, justifying the atrocities, neglecting to provide remedies to victims,
and insulting and re-traumatizing victims through such acts.

3