2021 -- S 0950

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LC002984

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

RECOGNIZING THAT THE JAPANESE IMPERIAL ARMED FORCES COERCED MANY

WOMEN, ESPECIALLY KOREAN WOMEN, INTO SEXUAL SLAVERY DURING ITS

OCCUPATION OF MOST OF ASIA AND MANY PACIFIC ISLANDS FROM THE 1930S TO

THE END OF WORLD WAR II

     Introduced By: Senator Michael J. McCaffrey

     Date Introduced: June 08, 2021

     Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

     WHEREAS, From the 1930s to the end of the Second World War, the Government of

Japan officially commissioned and coerced the acquisition of young women for the purpose of

sexual servitude. These women became known as "comfort women," a euphemism for prostitutes;

and

     WHEREAS, It is estimated by historians that anywhere from 50,000 to 200,000 women

were involved against their will as "comfort women." These women came from throughout Asia

and the Asian-Pacific Islands under Japanese control, including most particularly Korea, as well

as China, Philippines, Burma (Myanamar), Thailand, Vietnam and elsewhere; and

     WHEREAS, In 1921, the Government of Japan signed the International Convention for

the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children; and

     WHEREAS, In 1993 the Japanese Government issued the "Kono Statement" in which it

admitted that coercion was involved in the seizing of the "comfort women" and apologized for

those actions, and in 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "...expressed his most sincere

apologies and remorse to all the women and acknowledged that they had undergone

immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds

as comfort women"; and

     WHEREAS, Unfortunately, misinformation and denial continues to conflict with the

overwhelming historical consensus and evidence that thousands of women were forced to serve

as sexual slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army from the 1930s to the end of World War II. One

such ill-informed and inaccurate article was recently written by Harvard Law Professor J. Mark

Ramseyer, who essentially argued that the "comfort women" were independent and consenting

prostitutes. The response was immediate and the article was resoundingly discredited by most

scholars and strenuously objected to by numerous activists, political leaders and students; now,

therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby recognizes that the

Japanese Imperial Army coerced many women, especially Korean women, into sexual slavery

during its occupation of most of Asia and many Pacific Islands from the 1930s to the end of

World War II; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to the Honorable President of the United States,

Joseph Biden, the Honorable Governor of the State of Rhode Island, Daniel McKee, and Mr. Jin

Sup Hong, Grand Master, Hong's World Class Taekwondo Center.

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LC002984

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