Tokyo Tribunal Judgement: A Vital Tool for Gender Justice

Rights & Democracy has contributed $4,500 towards technical corrections in the final judgement of the 2000 Women's International War Crimes Tribunal, which in December 2000 found Japan guilty of the rape and sexual enslavement of some 200,000 Asian 'comfort women' during the Second World War.

Led by Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the symbolic Tokyo Tribunal heard the testimonies of 75 survivors of Asian comfort women from China, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and East Timor. In its groundbreaking final judgement, which followed the principles of international law, the panel found Emperor Hirohito criminally responsible for rape and sexual enslavement of women as a crime against humanity, and recognized these crimes against women as an integral part of the Japanese military campaigns.

The judgement, although a moral and symbolic rather than legal one, set a precedent in that it was the first time that the protracted sexual enslavement of women, as opposed to incidents of rape, has been considered as a crime against humanity. It is considered a significant judgement for gender justice and women's rights. In March 2001, ICTY prosecutors drew upon the legal work of the Tokyo Tribunal when they found three Bosnian Serb former military officers guilty of the sexual enslavement, rape and torture of women in the town of Foca, Bosnia, during 1992.

The final, corrected and edited version of the judgement, complete with corrections to 1459 pieces of evidence translated from Korean, Cantonese, Malaysian, Tagalog, Portuguese, Japanese and Dutch, will be used as a tool in similar prosecutions where women are the victims of gender-based violence in current conflicts the world over.

For a summary of findings of the Tokyo Tribunal: www1.jca.apc.org/vaww-net-japan/e_new/judgement.html