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Preamble
Witnessing the passage of the 20th century without any justice done to women victims and survivors of sexual
slavery committed by the Japanese Military in various Asian countries under its colonial domination and military
occupation before and during the Second World War, being one of the most horrendous forms of wartime
sexual violence known in this century;
Witnessing also that violence against women, especially during armed conflicts, continues to be unabated
in many parts of the world today;
Noting that violence against women has received further international attention through the Vienna Declaration
adopted at the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 and the Beijing Platform of Action adopted at the
Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, which explicitly stated that violence against women during armed
conflict including rape and sexual slavery was a war crime, and that its truth should be identified and disclosed,
the victimized properly redressed, and the perpetrators punished;
Taking note that the International War Crimes Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda established
by the United Nations in the early 1990s have prosecuted those who were responsible for violence against
women and the International Criminal Court covers under its jurisdiction violence against women during war
and armed conflicts committed after the entry into force of its Statute;
Whereas the Japanese Military sexual slavery has been a particularly grave and egregious form of violence
against women in violation of the then existing principles of international law and deeply shocking the
conscience of humanity;
Noting that the military tribunals conducted by the Allied Powers throughout Asia following the end of the
Second World War seldom prosecuted Japan's military sexual slavery and other cases of sexual violence
against women as war crimes, and that, in the subsequent decades, the existing national and international
systems of justice have failed to bring the perpetrators to justice;
Cognizant that women survivors of the Japanese Military sexual slavery continue to suffer, both physically
and psychologically, from these violations and from the failure to provide justice, including individual
compensation and other reparations, and prosecution of the perpetrators of these crimes;
Aware that after the long and torturous silence, survivors of this slavery have demanded in the 1990s that
justice be done and their long denied human rights be restored to them;
Alarmed that even after half a century after the crimes were committed, the survivors do not receive a word
of acknowledgement of the crimes by the perpetrators, nor is there any genuine apology made or reparations
provided by those responsible for the crimes committed against them while one survivor after another is
passing away without any redress;
Mindful of the moral responsibility of every member of the global civil society and also a common task for
the international women's movement to restore justice for the women victims and survivors of wartime sexual
violence including sexual slavery;
Determined to restore justice, human rights, and dignity to all victimized women, to contribute to end the cycle
of impunity for violence against women in wartime and armed conflict situations and thereby prevent repetition
of such crimes;
Convinced that this effort will also contribute toward creating a 21st century and a new millennium free of war
and violence against women making the full documentation public to the world as an indelible records of the
20th century history;
Desiring to hold a Women's International War Crimes Tribunal 2000 for the Trial of Japanese Military Sexual
Slavery, the primary task of which will be to bring out truths and to establish the legal responsibility of states
and individuals involved in sexual violence and especially the sexual slavery of "comfort women" at "comfort
stations" perpetrated by the Japanese Imperial Army in connection with Japan's colonial domination and war
of aggression throughout the Asia-Pacific region;
Convinced that the Tribunal is competent to render its judgements respecting responsibility for commission
of crimes against women in light of the principles of law, human conscience, humanity and gender justice
that were an integral part of international law at the time of and that should have been applied by the International
Military Tribunal for the Far East, as well as taking into account the subsequent developments in international
law, particularly in relation to women's human rights, which have come to be recognized by the international
community as a priority matter as the result of brave struggles of many people including women survivors
themselves and insofar as these developments illuminate the proper application of international law to the
crimes against women and embody evolving principles of state responsibility for past violations;
Mindful that while the Tribunal, as a people's and women's initiative, has no real power to enforce its judgements,
it nonetheless carries the moral authority demanding their wide acceptance and enforcement by the international
community and national governments;
Urging once again that States and intergovernmental organizations take necessary measures to bring to justice
the persons responsible for the crimes and to provide reparation including apology, compensation and
rehabilitation.
The International Organizing Committee, composed of organizations from the offending country (Japan),
organizations from areas where people were victimized (South and North of Korea, China, Taiwan, the
Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and others); and the International Advisory Committee (comprising eminent
scholars and human rights activists),
Adopts hereby the Charter of the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal 2000 for the Trial of Japanese
Military Sexual Slavery.
Article 1 Establishment of the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal
The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal ("the Tribunal") is hereby established. It shall have power to
exercise jurisdiction over individuals and States pursuant to the provisions of the present Charter. It shall
conduct a public trial on such dates and places as may be determined by the International Organizing Committee.
Article 2 Jurisdiction of the Tribunal
1. The Tribunal shall have jurisdiction over crimes committed against women as war crimes, crimes against
humanity and other crimes under international law and shall cover all countries and regions that were colonized,
ruled or under the military occupation and to all other countries that were similarly victimized by Japan before
and during the Second World War. These crimes include, but are not limited to the following acts: sexual slavery,
rape and other forms of sexual violence, enslavement, torture, deportation, persecution, murder, and
extermination.
2. The Tribunal shall also have jurisdiction over acts or omissions of States in violation of international law
with respect to the crimes as referred to in the above paragraph.
3. The Tribunal shall also have jurisdiction over claims involving state responsibility under international law
as referred to in Article
4. The jurisdiction of the Tribunal shall extend to the present day.
Article 3 Individual criminal responsibility
1. A person who planned, instigated, ordered committed or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning,
preparation or execution of a crime referred to in Article 2 of the present Charter, shall be individually held
responsible for the crime. Those who have concealed the crimes in Article 2 shall be individually held
responsible.
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