Settlements
Between 1995 and 2007, the Japanese government set up the Asian Women’s Fund (AWF) for victims of the war, made up of public resources and donations from Japanese citizens. Beneficiaries also received apologies from individual state officials.
In those years, the AWF made “atonement” settlements with the victims.
In the Philippines, almost 211 survivors received payments; 61 in South Korea; and 13 in Taiwan. Each received an individual payment of 2 million yen (approximately $18,000) from private donations. A total of 285 survivors agreed to the payments.
The women also received medical and social support services paid for by the Japanese government. Several prime ministers — Ryutaro Hashimoto, Keizo Obuchi, Yoshiro Mori, and Junichiro Koizumi — sent signed letters of apology and remorse to survivors who accepted the compensation from the AWF.
Another premier, Shinzo Abe, expressed “most sincere apologies and remorse” through a statement read by then-foreign minister — and future prime minister — Fumio Kishida, hoping for a “final and irreversible” resolution. Despite this, women activists and support groups for survivors continue to highlight the issues, as they did at last week’s Elks Club event.
After the end of World War II, a new form of women’s exploitation was set up by the Japanese government with the approval of the occupying United States authorities. This time, the “comfort stations” were replaced with an organized system of brothels, into which Japanese women were trafficked, coerced or tricked, that were designed specifically for American soldiers to prevent the women from being raped. They were named “special amusement facilities” and organized by the Recreation and Amusement Association.
While the US military did not technically run the sex dens, they allowed them to exist and, in many cases, provided medical inspections to keep the women “safe” from venereal diseases. This lasted a few years until the system was banned due to rising venereal disease rates and an outcry from women’s groups.
Conditions for the women caught in this were brutal and harsh; some were forced to service up to 60 soldiers a day. Eventually, pressure from American women’s groups and a report from then-general Douglas MacArthur’s staff that highlighted the brutalization of these women brought this system of organized sexual exploitation to an end.
In the Philippines, the sex industry was encouraged to satisfy the urges of US troops, especially during the Korean War (1950–1953) and later, the Vietnam War (1955–1975). Thousands of US soldiers poured into American bases at Clark and Subic Bay, and huge sex industries in Angeles City and Olongapo City were allowed to thrive for the men to have unlimited sexual access to women. As a result, drug and child sexual abuse, venereal diseases, HIV-AIDS, and violent crime were common.
This was the start of human trafficking and sexual slavery in the sex bars and clubs. The young girls were recruited from the poorest provinces through promises of good jobs in hotels. Small advance payments were made to the parents and the girls were “indentured” to the sex bars. They were forced to be sex workers — the new name of “comfort women” — and are held in “debt bondage” — the new name for sex slavery. There was no escape; they either stay or go to prison for not paying their debts.
As a result, sex trafficking is the scourge of Southeast Asia. It is a major crisis; an estimated 200,000 to 225,000 women and children are trafficked annually, constituting nearly one-third of global trade. The Philippines serves as a primary source country, with 60,000 to 100,000 children involved in sexual exploitation, ranking among the highest globally for online sexual abuse.
The UN Children’s Fund said that in 2021 alone, two million children in the Philippines were subjected to online sexual abuse and exploitation. Children reported that they experienced grooming and received offers of gifts or money in exchange for sexual acts. Some were threatened or blackmailed to engage in them.
Due to stigma, disclosure is disproportionately low, despite various reporting channels. This current form of exploitation is rooted in war and the “comfort women,” and children today are the victims of endless wars that benefit the billionaires behind the industrial military complex and their investors./PN
