hankyoreh

Former comfort woman Lee Ok-sun (left) responds to support from women’s rights activists from Asia and Africa who joined the 1

“I want to say that the comfort women’s struggle is very important to us, too. We hope that they’ll keep up the fight, and we’ll always support them,” said Anna Christi Suwardi, a female activist.

Suwardi, 29, had just been looking at a screen in an exhibition room explaining the history of the comfort women movement. She was on a tour of the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum, located in Seoul’s Mapo District, on the morning of Jan. 13.

Indonesia, where Suwardi works on a campaign for peace and education, was another country where the Japanese Imperial Army forced locals to serve its troops as sex slaves - or “comfort women,” as they were euphemistically called.

While acknowledging that social prejudices in Indonesia made it difficult to take up the issue of the comfort women there, Suwardi promised to find a way to forge links with people researching the issue when she returns to Indonesia.

Women’s rights activists from Asia and Africa are transcending national boundaries to show their solidarity with the comfort women.

On Wednesday, activists from these areas who were attending the 9th Ewha Global Empowerment Program (EGEP), which is being held at Ewha Womans University between Jan. 6 and Jan. 18, took a tour of the War and Women’s Human Rights Museum. After the tour, they headed to the Wednesday demonstration, held this week for the 1,213th time to call for a resolution of the comfort women issue. The demonstration was held as usual in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul’s Jongno District.

Representing 14 different countries, including Nepal, Malaysia, and Zimbabwe, the 16 female activists agreed that the comfort women problem is an issue of human dignity and human rights and that the key to solving the issue is women’s solidarity around the world.

Trimita Chakma, 32, from Bangladesh, emphasized that the campaign to resolve the comfort women issue aided the cause of improving universal human rights.

“Sexual violence against women in wartime is a problem that can occur at any time and place. Talking about women’s rights ultimately leads to a movement against war and for peace,” Chakma said.

The activists were moved by the boldness of the former comfort women to shatter stereotypes and call for women’s rights.

Palestinian Doaa Atya Althalathini, 30, said that, throughout her tour of the exhibition, she was thinking about how the people of the Gaza Strip suffer because of war. “If the comfort women hadn’t carried on their struggle for 24 years, these problems wouldn’t have come to light. I’m just grateful to them for their courage,” Althalathini said.

On a cold day with snowflakes swirling, the women showed up at the demonstration carrying homemade placards in the shape of butterflies. They shed tears as they listened to the words of the comfort women through translation device.

“The comfort women are inspiring all female activists who are working around the world. I really hope they won’t give up until they receive an official apology from the Japanese government,” said Natalie Robi Tingo, 23, a female activist from Kenya, after the demonstration was over.

Jan. 14 will mark the launch of a nationwide campaign to scrap the recent comfort women settlement reached by the South Korean and Japanese governments and to find a just solution. The campaign is being organized by several hundred political parties and civic groups representing women, students, artists, lawyers, and labor and covering issues such as unification and historical disputes.

The participating groups will establish a foundation, tentatively called “Holding Hands with the Former Comfort Women,” that has been proposed by the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (Jeongdaehyeop), and start a petition with the goal of collecting 100 million signatures. In the long term, they hope that achieving a just solution to the issue of the comfort women will bring about change in every area of society.

“Resolving the issue of the comfort women carries a great deal of significance for history, education, human rights, peace, and democracy,” said Jeongdaehyeop co-representative Yoon Mee-hyang. “While for the time being we have no choice but to call for the South Korean government to scrap its agreement with Japan, fundamentally, this is supposed to be a nationwide campaign in which a just solution to the comfort women issue sparks a conversation about the values that are needed in our society.”

By Bang Jun-ho and Hwang Keum-bi, staff reporters

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]