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Wartime sex slaves' compensation bid rejected
December 15, 2004
An appeal by four elderly Chinese women forced to become sex slaves for
Japanese soldiers during World War Two was rejected today by a court in Japan
that said the current government wasn’t responsible for the atrocities
committed by wartime rulers.
The four women, aged from 77 to 81, from China’s Shanxi province, filed the
original suit in 1995, seeking 20 million yen (£100,000) in damages and an
official apology. They said they were repeatedly raped by Japanese soldiers
posted in China during the war.
A lower court rejected the plaintiffs’ demands, saying individuals had no right
to seek state compensation in Japan. The four plaintiffs have since appealed.
The Tokyo High Court upheld the earlier ruling, court spokesman Koji Suwabe
said.
Japan’s military shipped thousands of women from Korea, China and other Asian
countries during World War II to provide sex for Japanese troops. Historians
say some 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery.
It was only in the early 1990s that Tokyo acknowledged its military was
involved in setting up and running brothels for its troops.
In today’s ruling, the court acknowledged the wartime government’s role in
sexual slavery and the women’s trauma.
However, Tokyo High Court justice Makoto Nemoto said the current administration
did not have to pay compensation because it was not responsible for what past
leaders had done.
Kang Jian, a Chinese lawyer representing the women, called the ruling
“unacceptable.”
“The ruling says Japan committed crimes but does not have to take
responsibility for them, which makes no sense at all,” Kang said. “Japanese
court rulings only serve to satisfy politicians who are reluctant to take
responsibility for Japan’s wartime actions.”
Tokyo has rejected most compensation demands, saying they were resolved in
post-war peace treaties.
Dozens of other compensation lawsuits filed by Asian victims of Japan’s wartime
brutality are still pending. In past rulings, courts have favoured the Japanese
government, often saying the statute of limitations had expired or that
international labour rules did not require compensation for sexual slavery.
“We suffered brutality under the Japanese military. We were constantly smashed,
and we were injured. Why the Japanese government still does not admit its
crimes?” plaintiff Liu Mianhuan, 77, said angrily. “I will keep fighting for
justice as long as I live.”
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Japan's
top court nixes sex slave, Korean veteran’s suit
11-30-2004
Textbooks
in Japan avoid wartime past
11-29-2004
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