Press Release

March 29,2001

LOLAS Stage Rally March 30 in Front of Japan Embassy 10-12 Noon to Demand Passage of Motooka Draft Bill and Protest Tokyo Court Negative Decision on Korean Confort Women Case

LOLAS ( Lolas Kampanyera Para Sa Kapayapaan at Kumpensasyon)

LOLAS ( Lolas Kampanyera Para Sa Kapayapaan at Kumpensasyon), a 100-strong active membership composed of the latest batch of ex-comfort women survivors that emerged in November 2000, mostly coming from Arayat, Pampanga will stage a demonstration tomorrow, March 30, 2001 from 10 AM-12 NOON to protest the decision to dismiss the compensation demand on the lawsuit filed by South Korean ex-comfort women and forced laborers against the Japanese government , given last Monday, March 26 by the Tokyo District Court. The Korean plaintiffs, led by Kim Jong Dac, leader of the Association of Pacific War Victims and Bereaved Families, filed the litigation with the Tokyo court in a series of landmark suits in 1991 and 1992.

The Kampanyera LOLAS rally, to be joined by some members of the Lila Pilipina LOLAS will also demand for the passage of the Motooka Draft Post-war Compensation Law filed and refiled in 2000 and during this year by Senator Shoji Motooka, and awaiting another round of deliberations at the Japanese Diet. The rally/demonstration is being organized by the Asian Women Human Rights Council in behalf of the AWHRC Kampanyera LOLAS. AWHRC is the supporting human rights organization that initiated the formation of the Task Force on Filipino Comfort Women (TFFCW) in 1992 and the Lila Pilipina Lolas in 1994, and now the Kampanyera Lolas or LOLAS Para Sa Kapayapaan at Kumpensasyon in 2000.

The demonstration will be highlighted by the presentation of QUILTS prepared by the new batch of LOLAS from Arayat, Pampanga, Roxas City and Pangasinan which depict in handcrafted cloth picture images the stories of the ex-comfort women who were forced to provide sex for Japanese servicemen who fought during World War II.

Open letters to the Prime Minister of Japan and to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will be read by the lolas during the rally tomorrow. The letter to the Prime Minister of Japan seek the passage of the draft Motooka Bill by the Japanese government, while the letter to the new Philippine President seeks for a monthly pension to alleviate the situation of the Filipino ex-comfort women lolas particularly those that have not received the Asian Womenﾕs Fund(AWF). Survivors of the Kampanyera Lolas have expressed their desire to seek o for the passage of the Draft Motooka Bill as the expression of their demand for state legal compensation and an official apology. The Asian Womenﾕs Fund (AWF), a privately funded initiative of the Japanese government to extend so-called humanitarian assistance to victims of Japanese sexual slavery had been described by human rights advocates for wartime redress for ex-comfort women as woefully inadequate and falls short of its goal as it had set a limit to the number of survivors to be extended fund distribution. The AWF has been strongly criticized by human rights groups as insincere in addressing the demand for compensation of the victims and had not gotten sustained donations and support from private citizens of Japan.

Reference: Letter to Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshiro Mori

Nelia Sancho

Coordinator, AWHRC Kampanyera LOLAS