CHR supports compensation for Filipino "comfort women"

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) supports the reparation of so-called comfort women and seeks an apology from the Japanese government.

“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.

The Philippine government failed to end the ongoing discrimination and suffering that comfort women have experienced, according to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), which has found that this constitutes a violation of their rights.

The 1979 CEDAW Convention mandates that sexual abuse victims receive full compensation for the ongoing discrimination they endured, including recognition and redress, an official apology, and material and moral damages.

The CHR advises the government to uphold these human rights standards and obligations with regard to the plight of Filipina victims and survivors of sexual slavery under the Imperial Japanese Army, and to pursue transitional justice to address widespread and persistent human rights violations.

“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.

Via Philstar