"Trostfrauen" - Comfort Women
12.12.2020
Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal 20th Anniversary Online Symposium

Keynote speech:

The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal -
civil society's reframing of the search for justice

Ustinia (Tina) Dolgopol
Adjunct Associate Professor, Flinders University of South Australia

"... I have been asked to discuss both the historical significance of the Tribunal in terms of its focus on the nature of the crimes committed against the women as well as its utilisation of the law to demonstrate that military and political figures in Japan, including the Emperor, were responsible for the gendered crimes that occurred during WW II. In addition the organisers indicated that given the present global dialogue around Black Lives Matterand the #MeToo movement it would be useful to draw parallels with the movements in the Asia-Pacific region that helped to make the position of the ‘Comfort Women’ a matter of global concern and which brought about the Tribunal. Quite clearly this movement is not over. Many organisations and individuals continue to work on the issue and you would not be participating in this virtual conference if the historical impact of the ‘Comfort Women’ system and civil societies response to it were not of ongoing significance.

One important factor that should never be overlooked is that the civil society efforts behind the ‘Comfort Women’ issue were the result of an Asian women’s movement that sought to correct an historical injustice as well as influence the content of international humanitarian and international criminal law. Over the years I have  written a number of articles and book chapters about the Tribunal and have stressed
in each of them the importance of the Asian women’s rights activists who made the issue of the ‘Comfort Women’ one of global concern. ..."

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