R 301
2021 -- S 0950
Enacted 06/08/2021

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

     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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