Australian former sex slave calls for Japanese apology

ABC Online

Last Update: Tuesday, February 13, 2007. 10:02am (AEDT)
Former sex slave calls for Japanese apology

An Australian woman forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Government during World War II says she is determined to extract an apology for her treatment.

Jan Ruff O'Herne was among 200,000 women known as comfort women, who were forced to sexually satisfy Japanese soldiers during the war.

Mrs O'Herne is flying from Sydney to Washington today to testify before a US Congressional hearing on the practice.

US Congress is considering a resolution that demands the Japanese Government take historical responsibility and make a formal apology to the victims.

Mrs Ruff O'Herne says it is vitally important that Japan says sorry to the women.

"An apology will give us back our dignity," she said.

"You can't imagine the shame that we have lived with after you've experienced those things, those atrocities.

"You feel dirty, you feel ashamed, you feel soiled and we carried that shame all our lives."

Friends of Comfort Women in Australia spokeswoman Anna Song says the resolution does not demand compensation but it is still an important step forward.

"There is a movement for legal compensation that adheres to international standards, and by that we mean adhering to the recommendations made by the UN and human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International, but that is not officially part of the resolution," she said.

© 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Australian sex slave seeks apology
February 13, 2007 - 1:13PM

Jan Ruff-O'Herne ... raped day and night by soldiers as a young woman.

An Australian woman forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II will appear before a US Congressional hearing seeking an apology for her treatment.

Eighty-four-year-old Jan Ruff O'Herne was 19 when she was seized from a prisoner of war camp in Indonesia and forced into a brothel to become one of hundreds of thousands of so-called "comfort women".

Ms O'Herne, from Adelaide, said she was "raped day and night" by Japanese soldiers for three months during the war.

She flew out for Washington today to testify at a hearing into the practice.

US Congress is considering a resolution that demands the Japanese government take historical responsibility and make a formal apology to the victims.

Ms O'Herne has been campaigning for justice for herself and other comfort women for 15 years, after keeping silent about her experiences for 50 years.

"We were just military sex slaves," Ms O'Herne told ABC Radio.

"They called us comfort women but it was just a horrific experience.

"This is really the pinnacle of all my campaigning that I have done over the past 15 years for justice for the comfort women."

Ms O'Herne said a formal apology would help the healing process to begin.

"An apology will give us back our dignity," she said.

"You can't imagine the shame that we have lived with.

"After you've experienced those things, those atrocities, you feel dirty, you feel ashamed, you feel soiled, and we carry that shame all our life."

The Netherlands-born Australian, who was captured by the Japanese in 1942 and spent three and a half years in prisoner of war camps, said she hoped the Congressional hearing would put pressure on Japan to finally act on the matter.

"After 60 years a lot of us are already dead," she said.

"I'm 84 and it's about time that we want Japan to acknowledge their wartime atrocity."

AAP