Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—The reason the Democrats put up an amendment to this motion is that it contains several errors which were pointed out by those women who are urging the Senate to make a statement with regard to comfort women. The first of those is that Japan, despite being a member of the UN, did not act on the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women in her report on comfort women published in 1994. Also, Japan has failed to recognise its breach of C29—that is, the convention against forced labour—through forcing comfort women into sexual slavery, despite the campaigning of the ILO by Korean survivors. Furthermore, in the 1970s, the Japanese government at the time buried the remains of proven war criminals sentenced at the Kyoto tribunal in the Yasukuni Shrine and has subsequently honoured them by prime ministerial visits.

The Kono statement in 1993 was an expression of personal remorse and not an official government statement, as stated by Australian survivor Jan Ruff O’Herne, and as academically and legally proven by expert doctor Mindy Kotler, Director of Asia Policy Point. Dr Kotler, who leads a team of international academics seeking a better understanding of Japan, said: ‘A definitive official government statement must fit one of four conditions.’ The reason we will not support this motion as it stands unamended is because it will actually do more harm than good.