PAINFUL MEMORY | Members of Malaya Lolas (Free Grandmothers), made up of surviving victims of sexual slavery during the Japanese occupation, recounted their experiences through songs in this 2007 gathering in Candaba, Pampanga province. (File photo by TONETTE T. OREJAS / Inquirer Central Luzon)
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Monday urged the Philippine government to seek an apology from the Japanese government and to return the removed “comfort women” statue that once stood in Manila Bay, following a United Nations (UN) committee decision calling for reparations and an official apology for victims of wartime sex slavery.
In a statement, CHR Chair Richard Palpal-latoc said it was “high time” that the government finally stood up for these women, whose demands for justice have been ignored 78 years since World War II ended.
He said the comfort women statue which was removed in 2018 should be put back “in honor of the stories and struggles of Filipina ‘comfort women.’”
Last week, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women issued a 19-page decision saying the Philippines “violated the rights” of these former comfort women by “failing to provide reparation, social support and recognition commensurate with the harm suffered.”
The historic decision was based on a 2019 complaint brought by 24 Filipino members of the Malaya Lolas (Free Grandmothers), who claimed that the Philippine government had repeatedly dismissed their efforts to seek claims against the Japanese government.
The UN body said these actions were a breach of the Philippines’ obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women as a State Party.
Apart from reparations, the body also urged the government to fully recognize comfort women and other victims of wartime violence. It also asked the government to create a memorial out of the “Bahay na Pula” in San Ildefonso, Bulacan province, where the women were raped and tortured.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, for her part, has pushed for the approval of a Senate measure urging the Philippine government to comply with its obligations under an international treaty to indemnify Filipino women who were sexually abused by Japanese soldiers during World War II.