Subject: [fem-women2000 746] PressRelease FINAL JUDGEMENT Webcast from Hague by FIRE
From: lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 12:38:42 +0900
Seq: 746
Press Release -- November 30, 2001 Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE) will WEBCAST LIVE >from The Hague in The Netherlands (webcast site: www.fire.or.cr) December 3-4, 2001 FINAL JUDGMENT WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL OF JAPAN'S MILITARY SEXUAL SLAVERY OF THE "COMFORT WOMEN" A new page of history will be written when the final judgment of the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal of Japan's Military Sexual Slavery, held last December, is delivered at the Peace Palace in the Hague December 3-4, 2001. FIRE will webcast live this historic event involving former "comfort women", lawyers, judges, scholars and activists. On December 3rd, prosecutors from the nine victimized countries, including China, The Philippines, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Netherlands, will present condensed versions of the charges brought against Japan at the Tribunal in December. The official judgment will be issued the next day, December 4, and will be followed by a press conference at 14:30. The judgment comes more than fifty years after the Japanese Imperial Army sexually enslaved over 200,000 women during the World War II. These women, who were often kidnapped from their homes, were trafficked throughout Asia and kept in "comfort stations" where they were brutally and continuously raped throughout the war by Japanese soldiers. Even today, the government of Japan refuses to acknowledge its state responsibility for instituting this atrocious system -- a system that has devastated the lives of countless women, their families and communities. The Tokyo Tribunal was convened as an addendum to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East which was established in 1946 at the insistence of the Allied Powers to try war crimes committed by the Japanese Military. Although there was overwhelming evidence of the system of sexual slavery, the IMTFE did not address this institutionalized enslavement and Japan was never forced to publicly acknowledge its wrongdoing in this regard or pay reparations to the women harmed. The Tokyo Tribunal, the first portion of which took place in December, 2001, was a collaborative effort initiated by Asian women and men from civil society to end impunity for war crimes of sexual violence. Evidence was presented at the Tokyo Tribunal to four eminent judges, Judge Carmen Argibay, Judge Christine Chinkin, Judge Willy Muntunga and presided over by Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, a former presiding judge of the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The judges presented a preliminary summary of findings on the last day of the tribunal. Judge McDonald will deliver the highly anticipated final judgment in The Hague. Be with us on this momentous occasion when the "comfort women" survivors will finally be able to see justice being done or listen to it live via WEBCAST at http://www.fire.or.cr/ during the final judgement presentation. Organizations sponsoring the Tribunal: VAWW--Japan Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center Women's Caucus for Gender Justice This press release is based in part on a press release from the Women's Caucus on Gender Justice. > _________________________________________________________________________ fem-Women2000@jca.apc.org for Women 2000, UN Special Session on Beijing+5 Searcheable Archive http://www.jca.apc.org/fem/news/women2000/index.shtml visit fem-net HomePage for other mailing lists http://www.jca.apc.org/fem