Survivors of wwii sex slaves urge Japan to acknowledge war crimes

Richelda Extremadura, the executive director of Lila Pilipina, an organization of former comfort women and their supporters, assists alleged Filipino comfort women as they display Origami paper cranes to symbolize peace during a forum to demand justice, compensation and apology from the Japanese government for their war crimes, Jan 22, 2016 in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, the Philippines. BULLIT MARQUEZ AP MANILA - Surviving Filipino women sexually enslaved by Japan's World War IIWar II military on Tuesday urged the Japanese government to acknowledge its war crimes, resolve the comfort women issue and stop warmongering. Sharon Cabusao-Silva, the executive director of Lila Pilipina, said it was very unjust on the part of the Japanese government to ignore the issue of Filipino comfort women who have suffered long enough, more than half a century in silence.

Lila Pilipina is a Philippine organization that helps women forced into Japanese military brothels in their fight for justice. There are only a few survivors, and most are in their 90 s and sick.

Silva said Japan must recognize the trauma inflicted on the women by the Japanese Imperial Army. The group said that Japan should finally acknowledge its war crimes against Asian nations and take the necessary steps toward a fair and long-overdue resolution of the 'comfort women' issue.

Lila Pilipina's call came when Japan was due to present its human rights report for the Fourth Cycle of the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights in the country.

We are outraged that Japan has ignored the issue of military sex slavery of thousands of Asian women in the fourth human rights report it submitted to the UN Human Rights Council - UNHRC it added.

The Japanese government was silent about the comfort women system, which is also at the heart of these issues, while declaring its achievements in various human rights areas, the group said.

Japan ignored the recommendations made by other countries to address this long-standing issue, according to the group. The group raised alarm over Japan's aggressive actions toward war spending and production with the development of its missile and other defense capabilities. The group said that Japan has militarized its Official Development Assistance programs in the Philippines through the sale of war material. Narcisa Claveria and Estelita Dy said they experienced cruelty and hardships during World War IIWar II at the hands of the Japanese military.

We were abused, forced to wash and iron their clothes by day, and repeatedly raped by Japanese soldiers at night. Claveria told reporters that they did not support war.

She said that war is brutal and that you will suffer even if you have not done anything wrong because they accuse you of doing something even if you did not.

Estelita Dy said that the new generation must not experience war. She told reporters that they do not want the new generation to experience the atrocities of war, so they are against war.

Hundreds of thousands of women and girls from China, the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asia and other countries and regions were forced to join Japanese militarists as sex slaves during World War IIWar II, and experienced horrific sexual violence both mentally and physically.