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Digital Museum: The Comfort Women Issue and the Asian Women's Fund

Category: Human Trafficking/Exploitation

In the early 1990's, the Government of Japan conducted and released their World War II military sexual slavery, also referred to as "comfort women," research.  The Asian Women's Fund was established in 1995 to educate the public about "The Comfort Women Issue" and raise funds to financially help the survivors who were sexually assaulted and raped. Thousands died from the sexual abuse in the comfort stations. The Asian Women's Fund had three primary missions:  1) to express atonement to the former comfort women at a national level, combining compensation from citizen donations and medical welfare support from government funds; 2) to collect and edit historical documents related with the issue and use them for historical lessons; and 3) to reflect on past mistakes of violating women's dignity and assist projects that deal with current women's issues such as violence.  The Asian Women's Fund closed in 2007, leaving a Digital Museum in place for public education.  The virtual museum includes "comfort women" testimonies, original documents like military regulations, sex tickets, rape station/center diagrams, political atonement statements, law suit documents, South Korean women's organizations efforts, and many other items.

External Website:
Asian Women's Fund "Comfort Women" Digital Museum