WW2-ANNIVERSARY/PHILIPPINES-RALLY Filipino former comfort women mark end of World War Two with demands for justice and compensation from Japan

Record ID: 143986

  • Title: WW2-ANNIVERSARY/PHILIPPINES-RALLY Filipino former comfort women mark end of World War Two with demands for justice and compensation from Japan
  • Date: 14th August 2015
  • Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (AUGUST 14, 2015) (REUTERS) FORMER FILIPINO COMFORT WOMEN AND ACTIVISTS WALKING TO JAPANESE EMBASSY FORMER FILIPINO COMFORT WOMAN, REMEDIOS TECSON, WALKING WHILE HOLDING PLACARD PROTEST OUTSIDE JAPANESE EMBASSY BANNER THAT READS (English): "70 YRS. AFTER WORLD WAR II STILL NO PEACE, NO JUSTICE TO ALL VICTIMS OF JAPAN MILITARY SEXUAL SLAVERY!" FORMER FIL
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3KLZDOW9M72CAVA1J763YYE22
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS NOTE, PLEASE REFER TO 0078-WW2-ANNIVERSARY/FILE-PART ONE AND 0079-WW2-ANNIVERSARY/FILE-PART TWO SENT ON AUGUST 9 FOR FILE MATERIAL
    More than a dozen activists and former Filipino comfort women marked the end of World War Two with a protest outside the Japanese embassy in Manila on Friday (August 14).
    Activists accompanied the six surviving former comfort women, a Japanese euphemism for sex slaves, to voice their decades-old demand for compensation and a public apology from the Japanese government.
    Remedios Tecson, 85, was abducted from her home by Japanese soldiers when she was 16. She has been joining the protests since 1992 and hoped Japan would listen to their plea while she was still living.
    "I hope they have pity on us. We are struggling. Look at our bodies, I am crippled and my eyes were recently operated, but I try to endure the heat of the sun so that I can get my demand for justice," she said.
    Rechilda Extramadura, Executive Director of the women's rights organisation Lila Pilipina, said many of the Filipino comfort women were already in their 80s and experiencing age-related problems, which was why it was important for Japan to address their demands while there were still some surviving victims left.
    "Now is the time for you (Japanese government). Do not wait for another time to give or grant the lolas (grandmothers) the harmony, and all other victims of Japanese military sexual slavery, to live in peace. But they can only live in peace based on justice," she said.
    Pilipina said there were at least 174 Filipino comfort women when they documented the numbers in 1992, but said the total surviving victims could be less than 70 with many of the survivors dead due to old age.
    Like their counterparts in China and South Korea, the Filipino former comfort women have been demanding justice through compensation and a public apology from the Japanese government.
    Japan acknowledged in 1993 that the state played a role in forcing Korean and Chinese women into military brothels and set up a fund to provide compensation to survivors in 1995. However, Japan has refused to pay direct compensation to survivors.
    Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a former critic of the 1993 statement, now says he will uphold it. Many Japanese conservatives say there is no proof that authorities directly coerced the women.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register