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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
November 12, 2005
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| October 20, 2005 |
Acknowledging war crimes against women – Mina Watanabe |
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| Mina Watanabe speaking at a meeting in Athens, Greece, as part of Peace Boat’s Gender Project |
Mina Watanabe’s fighting spirit has kept her at the forefront of women’s rights and gender equality issues in Japan for the past decade. An activist for the women’s movement in Japan and the Asia-Pacific, Mina came onboard to participate in Peace Boat’s Gender Project, and to spread her determination for change to participants. |
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| Mina speaks onboard Peace Boat during a workshop on gender awareness |
Through workshops and lectures onboard and meetings in ports of call, Mina focused on a range of issues affecting women’s rights and gender equality. They included domestic violence, sexism in politics, the distortion of facts in Japan’s mainstream media, and military sexual violence against women during war time.
The term ‘comfort women’ is a euphemistic expression for women who were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military during wartime. The crimes were not made public until 50 years after the end of World War Two, when a Korean woman, Kim Huk Sun, broke the silence by speaking of the atrocities she experienced as a ‘comfort woman’. Her courage has since inspired hundreds of survivors to come forward with their testimonies; from North and South Korea, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Netherlands, East Timor and Japan.
For more than a decade now, surviving ‘comfort women’ have sought responsibility and reparations for the crime from the Japanese Government, says Mina. In 1993 the Government acknowledged the role of the military in sexual slavery, by admitting involvement and setting up an inquiry. However it did not admit a legal responsibility for the crimes, she said. |
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| The Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace in Tokyo |
A public donation fund was established by the Government, which collected money from the public to donate to victims. However, many women saw this as a token offer, which they were not interested in. “Kim Huk Sun did not want monetary compensation. In the last minute of her life she asked for dignity and justice – there was nothing more that she wanted,” said Mina.
The Japanese government is not responding to the demands of many individuals, organizations and the ‘comfort women’ themselves, and time is precious, says Mina. “The women [who were sexually violated during wartime, particularly the Second World War] are dying every month now”.
Mina is a member of the Violence Against Women in War Network, Japan (VAWW-NET). The NGO focuses on the ‘comfort women’ issue, as well as violence against women by the US military forces. A notable accomplishment of VAWW-Net, together with other women’s organizations, was holding the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s military sexual slavery in December 2000.
The latest achievement for Mina has been involvement in the opening of the Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace (WAM) in Tokyo in August 2005. The Museum is dedicated to sharing the stories of comfort women. WAM is the world’s first museum to record the facts of Japanese aggression and the suffering of comfort women. It holds a collection of survivors’ testimonies from throughout Asia, as well as documents concerning military aggression. Members of WAM are actively involved in eliminating all forms of discrimination against women, and hold seminars on this, as well as peace education and conflict resolution. “WAM is a tribute to women who have been violated during wars,” said Mina.
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The Museum is a key milestone in informing the public of the situation for ‘comfort women’. However, mainstream media seldom reports the issue. In terms of education for younger generations, the situation looks dismal, with almost all publishers of the new junior high school history textbook in Japan omitting the issue completely, according to Mina. For this reason, she felt it was imperative to share her knowledge with Peace Boat participants. “It’s so important to be on Peace Boat and to tell people the facts. Knowing the facts is the starting point for change.”
Mina also showed participants that war crimes against women are not just a thing of the past, drawing on examples of war in the former Yugoslavia. “I wanted to show how violence against women in wartime is continuing. Rape is still used as a weapon of war, and perpetrators are rarely punished.” Survivors of war crimes nowadays are inspired to speak out by the courage of the ‘comfort women’, she said.
Mina departed Peace Boat to continue working towards the elimination of gender-based violence, and ultimately violence against women, and many Peace Boat participants are now equipped with the knowledge to follow her lead.
For more information on the Women’s Active Museum, please visit: – www.wam-peace.org |
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