In preparation for the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery (Tokyo Tribunal), a Forum on Wartime Responsibilities Under International Law was organised by the Asian Center for Women's Human Rights (ASCENT) in Manila on 28 July - 1 August 2000. The forum was attended by international law and international humanitarian law experts, lawyers, legal researchers and activists who will prosecute the cases of comfort women from Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan and Indonesia at the Tokyo tribunal. In the forum, the participants discussed feasible legal strategies to employ in the international tribunal created to seek redress for the atrocities committed against the comfort women by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Asia-Pacific War.

The Tokyo Tribunal is scheduled for 7-12 December 2000 in Tokyo, Japan. It is a significant women's NGO initiative to open an alternative forum to obtain justice for the women who were sexually violated by Japanese armed forces during the war. It aims to specifically address the sexual violence perpetuated against the comfort women which was not prosecuted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East constituted to try military offences after the war. It is an initiative intended to meet the urgency to litigate these crimes without further delay considering the advanced age of the women complainants, and the fact that some of them have already died without obtaining any form of compensation or reparation from the Japanese government.

In partnership and solidarity with experts and international lawyers, the Tokyo Tribunal also intends to 8 set a precedent for the prosecution of war crimes against women fromthe perspective of women's human rights. While the tribunal will focus on the sexual slavery of 'comfort women' from 1931-1945, this exercise has a wider impact on the principles and practice of international law and international humanitarian law. It will commence the implementation of gender-sensitive principles on international law codified in the Statute of the International Criminal Court. It will propose innovative legal remedies to ensure that the gendered nature of the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against women remains central in the prosecution of these offences. The Tokyo tribunal is also a collective initiative among the victimised countries, namely: the Philippines, North and South Korea, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Japan. This collaboration among various NGOs in the West and Asia-Pacific is an affirmation of the crucial role of NGOs, inspite of their limited resources, in the promotion and protection of women's human rights. It is a political exercise which brings to fore the power of NGOs to create more responsive mechanisms of redress to challenge the Japanese government's impunity from its commission of sexual violence against women during the war. As a collective NGO effort, the tribunal is expected to generateand sustain an international movement to end violence against women, particularly in situations of war and armed conflict.

Specifically, the objectives of the Tribunal are:

• to receive from each country the evidence highlighting the grave nature of the crimes committed against the comfort women and to clarify the consequent responsibility of the Japanese government and its military;
• to have a clear analysis of the gendered nature of the crimes and to establish a gender-sensitive approach to the issues of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide;
• to involve the international community in shedding light about the nature of the crimes committed against the comfort women and identify steps to be taken by the Japanese government;
• to create an international movement supporting women's issues on violence against women under war and armed conflict situations;
• to end impunity of wartime sexual violence against women and to prevent such crimes from happening in the future.

On the occasion of the Tokyo tribunal, there will also be a one-day public hearing on current violence committed against women in war. The public hearing is slated for 11 December 2000 in Tokyo, Japan. The public hearing will comprise testimonies of victims and survivors of wars and conflicts in different countries and places such as Guatemala, Collumbia, Chaipas, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Kosovo, Bangladesh, Kashmir, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma, East Timor, Afghanistan, Algeria and US military bases. The hearing is a venue to articulate the gross violations of women's human rights in such situations. It will be also an opportunity to discuss experiences of women who joined the resistance movement, who organised for peace and justice or who initiated demands for accountability and women's participation in the post-conflict processes.

Listen to the cries of women violated in
war and armed conficts from the past
to the present and end the impurity
for the perpetrators of this crime.

Endorsement of the Tokyo Tribunal and monetary contributions to this initiative may be forwarded to:

ASCENT

VAWW-NET Japan

Contemporary Forms of Slavery

Oral intervention: Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development
Delivered by Ms. Heisoo Shin, 10 August 2000

Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) welcomes with great enthusiasm the update report by Ms. Gay McDougall on systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/21).

In this report, the Special Rappporteur clearly reiterates;

1. the criminal nature of sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence under the international humanitarian and human rights law;
2. the necessity to investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators not only to bring justice to the victims but also to prevent future crimes;
3. the right of victims to reparation.

Among all the valuable definitions, analysis, information and recommendations given in this report, APWLD would like to pay special attention to the part on Japan’s system of military sexual slavery during the Second World War (paras.71-78 on pp. 17-19). The Special Rapporteur pointed out in para. 72 the continued failure of the Government of Japan to fulfill its obligations under international law:
For the proctection and promotion of human rights of women subjected to sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence in armed conflict, APWLD would like to request the following to this Sub-Commission:

1. To establish a system to monitor and to ensure the implementation of all the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during and around armed conflict, given both in her final report and its update.
2. To urge all states to sign and ratify the Statute of the International Criminal Court as soon as possible.