Women, War & Peace—A reflection on the International Day of Peace

Date (Time):Start: 21/09/2008Time: (14:30) - End: 21/09/2008Time: (16:30) "The Japanese Government thinks that if all comfort women die, it will be buried and forgotten. But it won’t. As long as our next generation knows about it, it will not be forgotten." Gil Won-Ok, former "Comfort Woman" from South Korea.

Thousands of women known as "comfort women" were abducted, beaten, raped and coerced into providing sexual services for the Japanese military during the Second World War. The “comfort women" system has been described as "one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century.".

Many of these women continue to suffer the consequences of these abuses. Their painful experiences have still not been acknowledged.

If we try to bring ourselves closer to the wounds and damages brought to women in wars and conflicts through the eyes of the “comfort women”, how else can we be inspired while we are distanced in the comfort zone like Hong Kong? Is violence against women, whether it is in wars or not, a matter of course that is bound to happen? What is behind that driving force which subjects women to violence in a conflict situation? We will try to explore violence against women from the lesson of “comfort women” through different perspectives, and with which we hope to find our path to peace.

Date: Sunday, September 21, 2008 (International Day of Peace)
Time: 14:30-16:30
Venue: Kowloon Union Church (4 Jordan Road, B2 exit of Jordan MTR station)
Activity: talk, film show
Speakers: Milabel Cristobal and Shun-hing Chan (a member of A Breath of Harmony)

Ms. Cristobal is the Director of Amnesty International Hong Kong. She was also a member of the Women\\\'s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan\\\'s Military Sexual Slavery" held in December 2000 in Tokyo, Japan.

Dr. Chan is one of the co-founders of A Breath of Harmony, an assistant professor in the department of cultural studies at Lingnan University and the project coordinator of Gender and Everyday Life Research Cluster under the Kwan Fong Cultural Research and Development Programme. She is also one of the coordinators of the “1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005”.

Please provide us your name, contact number and no. of participants by email at admin-hk@amnesty.org.hk [1] , should you be interested in this event.

The Government of the Philippines is currently considering passing a resolution that has particular significance because of the number of Filipino women who were enslaved by the Japanese Imperial Army. We will gather signatures for a petition at the event to urge the Philippines to be the next country to pass a resolution calling for Justice for the Comfort Women.