Released at the 52nd meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights (UN Human Rights Council at present) in April 1996 was the report on "wartime sexual slavery system" by the special rapporteur that recommended the Japanese government to make efforts for the settlement of the sexual slavery issue.

The report, based on the probing of the victims and related persons of the DPRK, Japan and south Korea, suggested six recommendations including the issue for the Japanese government to acknowledge the illegitimacy of the establishment of "comfort stations" and to make reparations to the victims out of legal responsibility, the issue of revealing all related documents and materials and making open written apology to the victims, the issue of reflecting historic fact in education courses and finding out and punishing criminals, saying that term "wartime sexual slavery system" is more appropriate than the term "comfort women".

According to the statement, the report aroused full support and sympathy from broad international community as well as from the victims and the victimized countries immediately after its publication and was acknowledged as a landmark document rejecting violence against women and propelling the movement for safeguarding human rights worldwide.

But nothing has been done for the settlement of the sexual slavery for the Japanese army by the Japanese government, 25 years since the publication of the report.

What is done is only the tricky act to evade the responsibility of the Japanese state by creating the civilian-veiled "Asian peace people's fund for women" which is not even acknowledged by the victims, and the shameful act to delete the crimes by writing off the statements about sexual slavery from the textbooks of Japan.

If the past is not properly set right and proper lessons are not drawn from history, crimes are bound to repeat themselves.

Whatever option it may take, Japan can never get rid of its responsibility for the hideous state-sponsored crimes wantonly violating international law and human ethnics including the sexual slavery of the Japanese army, and that the more Japan tries to evade its responsibility, the higher the international voices blaming and criticizing it will be.