Achievements of the Asian Women’s Fund
The Asian Women’s Fund was established in 1995 to address the issue of women who suffered from indignities inflicted on them during World War 11. The basic concept of the fund was for Japan to express its apologies to these women, give monetary redress and provide medical and welfare assistance as a way of atonement for the inhumane treatment the women received. With providing such assistance, a series of Prime Ministers of Japan extended to former comfort women an apology letter with their own signature. It was dissolved in March 2007 after the completion of its projects in Indonesia.
A Look into Its Creation
In a statement in August of 1994, Japan’s Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama conveyed his sincere apologies to the women victims of war and signified a desire to compensate the victims while acknowledging that the scars of the pain remain. Subsequently, a committee was formed to examine the matter with the documents at hand. It concluded that reparations had been accorded them through the San Francisco Peace Treaty or The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea in a case vis-à-vis South Korea which the Japan Government had followed.
In light of these findings, Japan as a nation had fulfilled compensation to the women. To resolve the issue, a quasi-government organization was formed to deal with the dilemma. And so was born the Asian Women’s Fund. Although initiated by the government and acknowledging Japan’s moral responsibility for them, the funds were sourced both from the government and from private individuals.
According to Haruki Wada, executive director of the fund, donations from the Japanese people totaled 565 million yen and 285 women from Korea, Taiwan, the Netherlands and the Philippines received about 2 million yen each. 770 million yen in taxpayers’ money was spent to pay for their medical care and 370 million yen was used in Indonesia to build medical facilities and homes for the elderly, in addition to other smaller projects. Japanese government had finally made an appropriation of 4.8 billion yen in the total amount.
How the Recipient Countries Viewed the Asian Women’s Fund
In spite of its noble intentions, not all recipient nations welcomed the Fund. The reasons were varied and not all were rational. The fund, after all, would have brought only good things to the intended beneficiaries. What made the objections worse was that most of the women who would have received the atonement money were willing, but the government officials and misguided groups pressured them into refusing.
Foremost among them is South Korea. The initial enthusiasm was stamped out when a non-governmental organization, The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, or simply Korean Council, pressured the women into changing their attitude towards the fund. This was despite the fact that in 1965, in the Korea-Japan Treaty, Japan had given ROK grant aid of 300 million dollars and loans worth 200 million dollars as a final and comprehensive solution for all issues between both countries.
Women who had publicly stated that they were amenable to receiving the apology letter and atonement money had to retract their statements after much criticism and pressure from antagonistic groups. The ROK government was not satisfied with the provisions in the AWF. They wanted an acknowledgement of legal responsibility, bigger payment, a full and sincere apology and punishment for the perpetrators. In August 1996, officers of the AWF and about 12 of the women who had been abused during the war met to discuss the project. Most of them rejected the fund because they found 2 million yen per person a paltry sum.
Four months later, one woman came forward and stated her decision to accept the fund. Six more followed suit. But after public denunciation and extreme pressure on both the AWF and the women recipients, it was decided to put the Fund on hold. Meanwhile, opposing groups solicited donations from private sources and these were given to the female war victims as assistance from the ROK. The seven who had accepted money from the AWF were not included.
In January 1998, two years after its suspension, the AWF resumed its implementation and more women came forward to accept the financial aid. In March, the administration of the newly-elected president Kim Dae-Jun paid monetary subsidies to the living women in amounts that were more than what the AWF gave. Eleven women who had received money from the AWF or were processing their applications were not included in the recipients list.
In May 2002, after several failed attempts to persuade the Korean government to accept their assistance, the AWF terminated the project.
Like South Korea, the AWF in Taiwan was met with vigorous opposition. Japan and Taiwan severed ties in 1972 when Japan and China resumed diplomatic relations. In 1992, the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation was formed and thereafter was tasked to resolve the issue of violence against women during the war. It rejected the AWF on the grounds that Japan should pay state compensation.
The Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation gave 500,000 Taiwan dollars to each woman on condition that she would sign documents stating she would refuse any money from the AWF. The Taiwanese government also gave 500,000 Taiwan dollars with the same stipulation.
The Philippines had little resistance to the AWF. At the outset, a private organization called LILA Pilipina was against the women receiving financial compensation. But practical and humanitarian reasons prevailed. The women were old and needed medical and health care. Their living conditions were not conducive to a healthy body. LILA Pilipina ultimately ended up helping the women process their application papers to the AWF. Another group, the Malaya Lolas, took up the opposition that LILA had left, but soon also joined the rest in welcoming the benefits from the fund.
The Netherlands had no objections to the Asian Women’s Fund. Its government respected the provisions in the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the Stikker-Yoshida Agreement wherein Japan gave 10 million dollars to the Netherlands government as a way to compensate for the war victims. With the AWF came into being, the government urged Japan to communicate directly with the concerned parties.
The government of Indonesia appreciated Japan’s efforts to reach out to the Indonesian women but recognized that the Treaty of Peace between Japan and the Republic of Indonesia and the Reparations Agreement had settled the issue of war reparations. When the AWF came into the scene in 1995, the Indonesian government in a statement signified that it wanted the assistance to be in the form of welfare projects for the elderly in general instead of to a specific group of people, in this case the war victims. Aside from the previous settlement, it said that certifying the authenticity of claims of victims presents a difficulty and the privacy of the women should be respected.
Japanese right wing extremists also denounced the Fund, as it was an admission that war crimes were committed and this group had other views on the matter.
Officers of the AWF admitted to a lack of a more detailed explanation on the government’s role in the source of funding and the manner in which letters of the series of Japanese Prime Ministers were distributed. Further, Mr. Wada said that although the damage has been done and no amount of money can mend the wounds inflicted, compensation and an apology is also meant to show the world in general that such acts will not be repeated by the Japanese.
The Benefits Gained from the AWF
The establishment of the Asian Women’s Fund benefited the intended targets from the five countries that were its focus: South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, the Netherlands, and Indonesia.
South Korea
In South Korea, eleven women received atonement money and a letter of apology. How they used the funds were never reported and the women were harshly criticized.
Taiwan
Although the identified women were willing to accept the atonement from AWF, they were pressured by the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation not to do so. It was a Taiwanese lawyer, Rai Hau Min, who supported the Fund, knowing that the women were poor and individual decisions regarding acceptance should be respected. He knew that these women could benefit much from the money. His law office was made the site for the processing of applications to the AWF.
Another factor that prevented the women from accepting the atonement money was the fear that their living subsidies would stop. With the help of the lawyer Rai Hau Min, they were assured that it wouldn’t happen and after surmounting the obstacles, the women were able to receive financial compensation.
According to the recipients, they were able to improve their houses and enhance the living conditions in terms of more food and things they could not otherwise afford. Almost all of them availed of the medical and health services that were once out of their reach. In interviews and through letters, these women expressed their profound gratitude to Japan for recognizing them. The AWF ended in Taiwan on May 1, 2002.
The Philippines
In the Philippines, individuals who received money were able to get proper medical care. Projects coursed through the AWF included the distribution of wheelchairs, medicines and nursing care services. Social workers were hired to care for the women, and monitor their health and living conditions. The women and their families were able to build or repair their houses, bought appliances, improve their diets and set up small businesses from the money they received.
Even after the completion of the project, the Japanese government continued its assistance by constructing medical facilities for the elderly people and maintaining these facilities. Medical and welfare projects were implemented through specified Philippine government agencies.
Netherlands
With the creation of the Asian Women’s Fund in 1995, the Japanese dealt directly with the people involved through a private organization. Payment to individuals was the preferred mode of atonement, with medical and welfare assistance afforded to them. The total amount reached 255 million yen. The letter of apology from then Prime Minister Hashimoto to Prime Minister of the Netherlands Willem Kok brought consolation and closure of the issue to the victims. The project ended on July 1, 2001.
Indonesia
In submitting to the wishes of the Indonesian government, the projects of the AWF were for all senior citizens, not only for the war victims. It was agreed that the welfare and medical projects should be built in areas where comfort women are stationed and priority should be given to them. In all, 69 facilities for senior citizens were completed. A person accepted into the facility has the privilege to stay there until his/her death. The facilities have given the elderly people, especially the victims of WWII 11 dignity and solace. A letter of apology was sent from Prime Minister Hashimoto to the President of Indonesia Suharto.
In January 2007, the AWF completed its projects in Indonesia and the Fund was dissolved in March of the same year.
A Chronicle of War Atrocities
What these oppositionists fail to see or acknowledge is that Japan does not have a monopoly in wartime abuses. Lesser known but just as dastardly are the abuses that occurred in other parts of the world, during the war and in post-war times.
In June 25, 2014, a group of South Korean women sued their own government for forcing them to provide sex for the US military after the Korean War ended in 1953. The US had retained its military forces in South Korea and the Korean government controlled the actions of their women in special areas around the US camps. The women are asking for 10 million won as compensation. Stars&Stripes additionally reported a claim by one of their lawyers in the article. “As South Korea was desperately poor after the Korean War, the national government also praised the women who were seen as a way to build up its struggling economy by earning U.S. dollars.
During the Vietnam War that lasted from the 1960s — 70s, South Korea’s Park Chung-Hee, father of sitting president Park Geun-Hye, sent over 300,000 soldiers to Vietnam to support the US military. There have been reports that the South Korean soldiers raped numerous Vietnamese women and massacred thousands of civilians, including women and children. Upon their return to their country, the Korean soldiers were hailed as heroes and their abuses were never investigated nor mentioned.
In what is known as the No Gun Ri Massacre, US soldiers gunned down hundreds of South Korean civilians under a railroad bridge in the early times of the Korean War. Although the US and Korean governments have kept their silence, ex-GIs have come forward to confirm the stories.
And in more recent developments, British female jihadists are turning thousands of captured Iraqi women into sex slaves, detaining them in brothels run by ISIS militants.
