TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Oct. 21, 2013) – One of the last living survivors of military sexual slavery in the Second World War spoke to more than a thousand Toronto high school students today, part of a visit to Canada organized by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Toronto Association for Learning and the Preserving of History of WWII in Asia (ALPHA).
Lola Fidencia David, 86, has been accompanied from The Philippines by Cristina Lope Rosello, a Filipina therapist who helps former comfort women deal with the trauma of their past. Rosello’s book, Disconnect: The Filipino Comfort Women, traces the human impact of 50 years of post-war silence about women who were abducted and sexually enslaved by the Japanese military in so-called “comfort” stations.
The two spoke today at Northern Secondary School and Blessed Mother Teresa School. Tomorrow, they participate in public events at the University of Toronto and Barbara Frum Library (see schedule below).
“Breaking the silence about human rights violations is essential for healing and growing: for the global community as well as for victims,” CMHR president and CEO Stuart Murray said. “This is a story of inspiration. By facing the past and learning its lessons, we help shine a light on human rights abuses that continue today, including wartime rape and human trafficking of women for sexual exploitation. The CMHR is committed to encouraging reflection and dialogue about these important subjects.”
The story of the comfort women came to the attention of the international community only in the 1990s. Rosello helped campaign in 1999 for inclusion of gender justice and victims’ rights in the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which ultimately recognized wartime rape as a crime under its jurisdiction. Her therapy has not only enabled former comfort women to regain a sense of dignity, but empowered them to speak out in support of women’s rights around the world. Biographical information is attached below.
“Survivors’ stories must be preserved so younger generations are aware that these kinds of transgressions against women should never be allowed, and that we must be vigilant against modern forms of atrocity against women,” Rosello said.
David was 14 when she was forced into a Japanese army garrison and repeatedly raped by Japanese soldiers. In 2007, she testified at Canada’s House of Commons, which subsequently passed a unanimous motion urging the Japanese government to take full responsibility and offer a formal apology to the estimated 200,000 comfort women of Korea, China, The Philippines and other nations.
The CMHR will record interviews with both women, to become part of its collection of human rights oral histories. Public events were also held last week in Winnipeg.
Dr. Clint Curle of the CMHR has organized the lectures and events, with the assistance of Toronto ALPHA and its founder, Dr. Joseph Wong; the Winnipeg Chinese and Community Cultural Centre and its president, Dr. Joseph Du; Rod Cantiveros of The Filipino Journal; and Dr. Tina Chen of the University of Manitoba.
“International justice and peace must go beyond prosecuting war criminals and passing resolutions,” Dr. Wong said. “It must bring this knowledge into classrooms and the community. The goal is that each and every single young person knows about this history, and uses this knowledge to build a peaceful and just future.”
Opening in 2014 in Winnipeg, the CMHR is the first museum solely dedicated to the evolution, celebration and future of human rights. It is the first national museum to be established in Canada since 1967 and the first built outside the National Capital Region.