CHR backs reparation of Pinay ‘comfort women’

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has expressed its support for the reparation of so-called comfort women who were victims of sexual slavery by the Japanese army during World War II, adding that the administration must also seek an apology from the Japanese government.

In a statement issued yesterday, the CHR emphasized the Philippine government “must seriously consider and act” on the recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), particularly on providing sexual abuse victims “full reparation” proportionate to the physical, psychological and material damages that they suffered.

“The CHR shall be ready and willing to assist the government in crafting a policy and the supporting mechanism for this envisioned reparation,” the CHR said.

“It is high time that the government stand up for its citizens and take active steps in granting the long overdue recognition and reparation that Filipina comfort women desire and deserve,” it added.

In a decision released last Wednesday, which coincided with the celebration of International Women’s Day, the CEDAW said the Philippine government violated the rights of comfort women by failing to redress the continuous discrimination and suffering they have endured.

The committee concluded that the Philippines had breached its obligations under the CEDAW Convention of 1979, particularly noting that authorities “had failed to adopt appropriate legislative and other measures to prohibit all discrimination against women and protect women’s rights on an equal basis with men.”

The CEDAW said the sexual abuse victims shall receive from the state party “full reparation, including recognition and redress, an official apology and material and moral damages, for the continuous discrimination that they suffered.”

It added that the reparation shall include financial amounts “proportionate to the physical, psychological and material damage suffered by them and to the gravity of the violations of their rights.”

In its statement, the CHR reminded the government that the country’s Constitution itself declares that “it is state policy to value the dignity of every human person and guarantee full respect for human rights.”

The CHR noted that the Constitution also prohibits the use of torture, force, violence, threat and intimidation or any other means which vitiate free will, and “mandates the compensation and rehabilitation of victims of torture or similar practices and their families.”

The agency said the right to remedy and reparations for violations of human rights is also enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), of which the Philippines is a state party.

“The CHR advises the government of the Philippines to uphold these human rights standards and obligations relative to the plight of Filipina victims and survivors of sexual slavery under the Imperial Japanese Army,” the commission said.

“To a larger, nobler end, providing reparations to Filipina comfort women pursues transitional justice, where large-scale and systematic human rights violations are addressed so that the nation and its people can move towards peace and reconciliation,” it added.

Pursuing transitional justice goes beyond monetary compensation, according to the agency.

“The CHR also recommends that full recognition of the dignity of comfort women include seeking an apology from the Japanese government and putting back the comfort women statue that once stood in Manila Bay, which was removed in 2018, in honor of the stories and struggles of Filipina comfort women and as a reminder of the abhorrence to the violence of war,” the agency said.