IV
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 195
Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of Japan should
formally issue a clear and unambiguous apology for the sexual enslave-
ment of young women during colonial occupation of Asia and World
War II, known to the world as ‘‘comfort women’’, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 24, 2001
Mr. EVANS (for himself, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. LOFGREN,
Mr. WOLF, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. MCNULTY, Ms. MCKINNEY,
Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. HONDA, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr.
ABERCROMBIE, Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. RIVERS, and Ms.
MCCOLLUM) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on International Relations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of
Japan should formally issue a clear and unambiguous
apology for the sexual enslavement of young women dur-
ing colonial occupation of Asia and World War II, known
to the world as ‘‘comfort women’’, and for other pur-
poses.
Whereas the Government of Japan during the colonial occu-
pation of Asia and the Pacific Islands during World War
II organized the subjugation and kidnapping of young
women for the sole purpose of sexual servitude, known to
the world as ‘‘comfort women’’;
•HCON 195 IH
Whereas the enslavement of comfort women was officially
commissioned and orchestrated by the Government of
Japan to include gang rape, forced abortions, sexual vio-
lence, human trafficking, and numerous other crimes
against humanity;
Whereas the comfort women were girls as young as 13 years
of age or women separated from their own children;
Whereas the comfort women were either abducted from their
homes or lured into sexual servitude under false pre-
tenses;
Whereas many comfort women were eventually killed or
forced to commit suicide upon cessation of hostilities;
Whereas historians conclude that as many as 200,000 women
were enslaved but very few survive today;
Whereas the Government of Japan did not fully disclose these
war crimes during negotiations for reparations with
former enemies and colonial states and further it did not
officially acknowledge the crimes until 1994;
Whereas the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) con-
cluded after a 1993 mission of inquiry that ‘‘these women
are entitled to the fullest possible relief permissible in
international law’’;
Whereas the Government of Japan has not issued state rep-
arations to former comfort women or acknowledged gov-
ernmental responsibility for this crime against humanity;
and
Whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence
against women concludes that a private fund to com-
pensate comfort women ‘‘is a clear statement [of the
Government of Japan] denying legal responsibility for the
situation of these women and . . . does not vindicate the
•HCON 195 IH
legal claims of comfort women under public international
law’’: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the Gov-
ernment of Japan—
(1) should formally issue a clear and unambig-
uous apology for the sexual enslavement of young
women during the colonial occupation of Asia and
the Pacific Islands during World War II, known to
the world as ‘‘comfort women’’;
(2) should immediately pay reparations to the
victims of these crimes;
(3) should educate future generations about
this horrible crime against humanity; and
(4) should publicly refute claims that the sub-
jugation and enslavement of comfort women never
occurred.
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