“Taiwan’s Virtual Museum on Sexual Slavery by Japanese Military and women’s Rights”

“Taiwan’s Virtual Museum on Sexual Slavery by Japanese Military and women’s Rights” is the world’s first digital museum to faithfully chronicle the history of Taiwan’s sex slaves, their campaign for Japanese reparation, and their struggle for human rights. This virtual museum archives the life stories of surviving sex slaves. These Ah Mas (“grandmother[s]” in Taiwanese) leave behind their voices, images, and creative works on this Web site.

During World War II, the Japanese military instituted the apparatus of sexual slavery. It was one of the massive and systematic collective crimes of the twentieth century. In Asia, nearly four hundred thousand women were victimized, forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military. From Taiwan, a Japanese colony at the time, over two thousand young women were deceived, abducted, or forced to serve as sex slaves; they were ravaged by the war and the Japanese soldiery.

Until now, the Japanese government does not acknowledge this heinous crime of human trafficking, sexual slavery, and enforced labor. Furthermore in 2005, the Japanese ignored international condemnation in the whitewashing of Japanese schools’ history textbooks. Such historical revisionism prevents Japan’s younger generations from learning the truth.

One of Taiwan’s surviving sex slaves Wu Hsiu-mei Ah Ma says: “This scar, this pain, I will remember no matter how long. They [the Japanese government] can pretend they don’t know, but I will never forget.”

Since 1992, various nations bearing this historical scar, such as Taiwan, South and North Korea, China, the Philippines, East Timor, Indonesia, the Netherlands, have campaigned for Japanese reparation for comfort women. Numerous European and American societies have also joined the chorus in support of the female victims. In 2007, countries such as the United States, the Netherlands, the European Union, and Canada have passed resolutions on sex slaves. Likewise in 2008, Taiwan and South Korea have passed resolutions demanding Japan to come to terms with the sexual slavery question. The United Nations have urged Japan to do so in the committee members’ report on human rights. The campaign for Japanese reparation for sex slaves has become part of the global movement for women’s rights.

On January 13, 2009, Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation launches “Taiwan’s Virtual Museum on Sexual Slavery by Japanese Military and women’s Rights.” It speaks to the world, exposes Japanese war crimes, transmits historical facts, and seeks justice and dignity, albeit belatedly, for this group of victimized women. This worldwide platform crystallizes the pursuit of justice and uncovers wartime sexual violence perpetrated against women.