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Home > Tokyo Tribunal > ABOUT THE PUBLIC HEARING |
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The 20th Century has been called a century of progress, but it has also been called a century of violence and wars. No previous century has witnessed such a scale of systematic destruction of lives through war and genocide, nor such an overwhelming number of women victimized by sexual violence as in this century.
In the last decade of this century, a new page of history has been turned, as comfort women from Asia have broken their 50 years of silence to demand justice and legal recognition of rape/sexual slavery as war crimes and crimes against humanity. Indeed at the time the Asian comfort women came forward, thousands of women are victims of mass-rape and other forms of sexual violence in former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Congo, Indonesia, Colombia and in other situations of war and armed conflict.
The forthcoming Tokyo Tribunal and the Public Hearing are being organized with the objective to highlight the issue of the former “comfort women” seeing the end of the century without any justice being done and at the same time not lose sight of the crimes that continue to be committed against women in the on-going wars and conflicts around the world. It is an assertion that the women of the world will not be stopped in pursuit of justice.
The one-day public hearing of testimonies of crimes from on-going war and conflict situations around the world immediately following the Tokyo Tribunal is an occasion to demonstrate that the crimes against the former ‘comfort women’ during WWII are not isolated incidents specific to the events around WWII. Battles are increasingly fought over women’s bodies and women continue to be used as war weapons. It is an occasion to show how the lack of accountability for crimes already committed causes the continuation of commission of such crimes unabated. Innocent civilians, women and children continue to pay the price for the refusal of world powers to learn lessons from the horrendous experiences of war.
The public hearing will comprise of testimonies of victims and survivors of war and conflict situations from different regions of the globe such as Chiapas, Colombia, Guatemala, Algeria, Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia etc. The hearing will not only present painful experiences of women who had been victimized by war but also provide a forum simultaneously to talk about the initiatives in each of these places to rise and fight back to demand justice such as the experiences of women who joined the resistance movement, who did organizing work for peace and justice. Such an account will serve as an inspiration not only for the women themselves but for humanity itself. The public hearing will usher the continuing work of women for genuine justice, peace and end to impunity.
INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEEEDNA AQUINO (Philippines), ARIANE BRUNET (Canada),CHARLOTTE BUNCH (USA),FELICITY HILL (Australia),EUGENIA PIZA-LOPEZ (Argentina/Britain),MARIEME HELIE LUCAS (Algeria/France),LEPA MLADJENOVIC (Former Yugoslavia),VAHIDA NAINAR (India),REGAN RALPH (USA),JULIE SHAW (USA),INDAI SAJOR (Philippines),VIVIAN STROMBERG (USA)
COORDINATOR
Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice
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VAWW-NET Japan
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