Rights groups hail U.S. vote on 'comfort women' resolution

Kyodo News - Human rights groups welcomed Tuesday the passage by a U.S. House of Representatives committee of a resolution seeking an apology from Japan for the sexual exploitation of Asian women by the Japanese military during World War II.

The 39-2 vote in the House Foreign Affairs Committee paves the way for a vote on the measure in the full House, which sponsor Mike Honda said could come in the second or third week of July.

The global human rights watchdog Amnesty International applauded the vote and urged the House as a whole to pass the measure.

In a statement, the group called the pressing of women into sexual servitude by the Japanese imperial army "crimes against humanity."

"Amnesty International urges nations across the world to follow the U.S. Congress's lead and put pressure on the Japanese government to ensure that survivors receive full reparation including restitution, compensation and rehabilitation," T. Kumar, Amnesty International USA advocacy director for Asia and the Pacific, said in the statement.

The 121 Coalition, an umbrella group for organizations who support reparations for victims, welcomed the vote and called on House leaders to schedule a full vote on the resolution as soon as possible.



Passage of the resolution "will send an important message to the government of Japan that the remaining comfort women survivors deserve justice and the restoration of their fundamental dignity," the coalition said in a statement.

Rights groups have pressed the Japanese government to act quickly on the issue, pointing to the advanced age and dwindling numbers of women who were forced to work in the military-run brothels during the 1930s and World War II.

A separate coalition comprised of women's rights and humanitarian groups cited the need for urgency in a statement lauding Tuesday's vote.

"The Japanese government must apologize and make reparations when there are 'comfort women' victims still here with us today," the statement said.

That coalition also called on Japan to teach future generations about the comfort women issue in order to prevent a "war crime like this" from happening again.

Sponsors of the measure are hopeful the bill will pass a vote in the full House, which unlike during previous attempts to pass similar legislation, is now under the control of Democrats.

The measure has the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called Tuesday's vote "a strong statement in support of human rights."

"I look forward to the House of Representatives passing this resolution and sending a strong message that we will not forget the horrors endured by the comfort women," Pelosi said in a statement.

The measure has garnered strong support among both Democrats and Republicans, despite the repeated insistence by Tokyo that the issue has been sufficiently addressed and a warning by Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ryozo Kato that passing the resolution would harm U.S.-Japan ties.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has previously offered an apology for the suffering endured by the women. He has also repeated that he stands by a 1993 official statement acknowledging and apologizing over the matter.

Abe came under fire earlier this year when he appeared to doubt the Japanese military's use of coercion in recruiting women to work in the brothels, although he later expressed regret about misunderstandings over his remarks and reiterated his sympathy for the victims.

The Bush administration has taken a noncommittal stance on the resolution, calling it a matter for Congress to decide. During a visit by Abe to the United States in April, Bush called the comfort women issue "a regrettable chapter in the history of the world" but said he accepted Abe's apology.