This is the story of people everyone tried to forget. The matter has been raised before many fora, including those of the United Nations. Much has appeared on the subject in the media.
Yet very little concrete action has been taken to provide relief to the victims: the Comfort Women from Korea, the Philippines, and other countries in Asia, whose numbers range between 100,000 and 200,000.
Why human rights violations on such a massive scale were not discussed in any meaningful way for more than 40 years is inexplicable.
It is for this reason that the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) sent a mission in April 1993 to the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and to Japan. The mission inquired into the circumstances concerning sexual services obtained from Korean and Filipino women by the Japanese military during World War II.
Japan-comfort women-fact finding report-1994-eng (full text in English, PDF)
Japan-comfort women-fact finding report-1994-jap (full text in Japanese, PDF)