CJA is co-sponsoring the first ever World Conference on Japanese Military Sexual Slavery to be held at UCLA from October 4-7, 2007. The World Conference will bring together influential scholars, non-governmental organizations, human rights activists, attorneys, artists, and most importantly, survivors, to honor the bravery and struggle of aging survivors of Japan's World War II Military Sexual Slavery (euphemistically known as the "Comfort Women"). Japan's comfort women system was the largest sexual trafficking of women known to modern history, for which Japan has steadfastly refused to apologize, despite international pressures.
The conference aims to 'right' history's wrongs about the human rights abuses committed against comfort women and solidify the international coalition calling for reparations to victims and their bereaved families. Contemporary issues in gender-based and sexual violence in wartime, trafficking, and modern-day sexual slavery will also be addressed.
The World Conference includes a global NGO conference on October 4 featuring testimonies from 2 survivors; an academic conference on October 5 featuring keynote speaker Dai Sil Kim-Gibson (writer and filmmaker) and a panel discussion about the intersections among race, gender and militarism; and a legal symposium on October 6 with keynote speaker Patricia Viseur-Sellers (ICTY and ICTR) and a group strategy session focused on obtaining reparations for the survivors. A reception will be held on the evening of October 6 with United States Representative Michael Honda, author and sponsor of the House Resolution 121 (the Japanese Apology Bill). A peace vigil will be held in downtown Los Angeles on October 7.
We hope that you will join us in honoring the victims and fighting for reparations at this historic event. For more information, please visit the conference website at www.jmss.info or email the conference organizers at jmssinfo@jmss.info to register.