Joint Statement by CARE, CWJC and Citizen’s Forum in Daegu

Comfort Women Action for Redress & Education (CARE), Comfort Women Justice Coalition (CWJC) and the Daegu Citizens Forum for Halmuni (Daegu, Republic of Korea) applaud the eight UN Human Rights mechanisms[1] for their unprecedented joint communications, dated July 17, 2025, addressed to the Governments of Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste.

Official UN Communications & Government Replies

This coordinated action represents a historic milestone in international human rights advocacy, affirming that the unresolved “comfort women” issue is not a bilateral or regional dispute, but rather a matter of grave human rights violations, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Key Findings of the UN Communications

Across all letters, the UN experts underscore that:

  • The “comfort women” system constituted trafficking, rape, and sexual slavery systematically organized by the Japanese Imperial Army.Japan has failed to accept legal responsibility, issue a full apology, or provide adequate reparations in line with international law.
  • Investigations conducted to date (e.g., Japan’s 1992–93 inquiry) lacked independence, excluded non-Korean victims, and ignored existing war crimes evidence.
  • Measures such as the Asian Women’s Fund (1995) and the 2015 Japan–ROK Agreement fell short by evading legal accountability, excluding survivors, or relying on private funds.
  • Survivors continue to face denial, harassment, and obstruction of memorialization efforts, including Japan’s opposition to statues and UNESCO Memory of the World registration.
  • International obligations under CEDAW, CAT, ICCPR, and customary international law require truth, justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-repetition.

 

Country-Specific Findings

  • Korea: Survivors such as Lee Yong-Soo and Kang Il-Chul continue to be denied justice. Despite favorable rulings in Korean courts (2021, 2023, 2025), Japan refuses compliance. The UN urged Korea to preserve testimonies, enforce court decisions, and support survivor participation.
  • China (incl. Taiwan): Survivors excluded from reparations and investigations. No recognition or apology directed toward Chinese victims.
  • Indonesia: Survivors received only generalized elderly welfare aid under the AWF, not direct reparations. Their suffering has never been independently investigated.
  • Netherlands: Survivors such as Jan Ruff-O’Herne illustrate decades of denial. AWF provided only welfare support, widely rejected as an evasion of responsibility.
  • Philippines: Survivors rejected inadequate reparations and continue to face memorial suppression, including the removal of the Manila statue in 2018 under Japanese pressure.
  • Timor-Leste: Only one known survivor, Ines Magalhães Gonçalves, remains alive. Timorese victims were never recognized or compensated. Her testimony of sexual slavery and lifelong suffering underscores the urgency.

The Urgent Challenge

Decades of Japan’s denial and inaction have left survivors aging and dying without justice. With fewer than 30 survivors still alive across all affected countries, time is running out. Each year of inaction represents a deeper denial of truth and dignity, and an erasure of living memory.

Our Call to Action

We echo the UN experts’ demands that Japan must:

  • Officially recognize the “comfort women” system as sexual slavery, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
  • Accept legal responsibility and issue a direct, unequivocal apology.
  • Provide full reparations, including compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition.
  • Conduct thorough, independent fact-finding investigations and preserve archives.
  • Respect and support survivor-led memorialization and education.Comply with domestic and international court rulings.
  • Protect survivors, their families, and advocates from harassment.

We also call on the governments of Korea, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, and the Netherlands to take proactive measures in line with the UN communications—through international adjudication, diplomatic initiatives, and survivor-centered policies.

Our Commitment

We reaffirm our dedication to amplifying survivors’ voices and ensuring that their demands remain central to global justice efforts. The UN’s intervention is both a recognition of survivors’ decades-long struggle and a warning: without truth, justice, reparations, and memory, there can be no closure and no guarantee of non-repetition.

Justice delayed is justice denied. We stand with survivors, their families, and advocates worldwide to demand immediate and concrete action.

[1] The Working Group on discrimination against women and girls; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; the Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children; the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences; the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in

persons, especially women and children; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences

Contact: 

CARE: info@comfortwomenaction.org

CWJC: comfortwomencoalition@gmail.com

Citizen’s Forum: tghalmae1997@naver.com