On 2 March 2007, the issue of 'comfort women' was raised again by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who denied that the military had forced women into sexual slavery during World War II. He stated, 'the fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion'. Before he spoke, a group of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers also sought to revise Yohei Kono's 1993 apology to former comfort women.

2007 marks the 30th anniversary of International Women's Day. The day has been observed since the early 1900s, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialised world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. In 1977 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution inviting member states to proclaim a UN Day for Women's Rights and International Peace - International Women's Day - observed on 8 March.

This important day provides an opportunity to celebrate progress made to advance women's rights and to assess remaining challenges. International Women's Day should encourage us to bring about equality for women and girls in all their diversity, and to celebrate the collective power of women past, present and future.

Women's suffering arises as a direct consequence of their gender

We should all bear in mind that many problems faced by women arise as a direct consequence of their gender. Everyday, in countries around the world, women and girls, desperate for economic opportunity, and seeking to follow their dreams of a better life, are lured from home by promises of jobs and security. Sadly, they too often find themselves turned into prostitutes, imprisoned by employers, mistreated, sexually abused and often never seen nor heard from again. While entire communities suffer the consequences of armed conflict, women and girls are particularly affected because of their status in society.

More than 1 billion people in the world today, the great majority of whom are women, live in unacceptable conditions of poverty, mostly in developing countries. Women's lives continue to be endangered by violence which is directed at them, because they are women. Violence against women knows no class, race, or age barriers. It exists across all socio-economic groups, It is a daily phenomenon in the lives of women throughout the world.

'Comfort Women', at a glance in 2007

The recent statement by Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, raising the issue of 'comfort women' strongly reinforces the suffering of women and girls today. He said that there was no evidence Japan coerced Asian women into working as sex slaves during World War II, backtracking from a landmark 1993 statement in which the government acknowledged that it set up and ran brothels for its troops. The 1993 apology was made by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, but was not approved by parliament. The recent Japanese Prime Minister’s denial came after several members of the US House of Representatives have drafted a non-binding resolution calling him to 'formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility' for using 'comfort women' during the war. Supporters want an apology similar to the one the US government gave to Japanese-Americans forced into internment camps during World War II. That apology was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1988.

This development is regrettable and shows that the ghost of inequality and disrespect continues to haunt the women and women’s rights. In fact, 'comfort women' or 'military comfort women' is a euphemism for between 80,000 and 200,000 forced sex labourers, mostly from Korea and China, conscripted into military brothels in Japanese-occupied countries during World War II. Women were enslaved against their will and repeatedly raped, tortured and brutalised for months or years on end, exclusively for the benefit of Japanese military. Women were abducted or obtained by deception and in some cases, girls were purchased from destitute parents. The majority of victims were under the age of 20 and some girls were as young as 12.

The Japanese Government has vigorously defended its legal position on this issue and has persistently maintained that all issues of compensation were settled by post-war peace treaties. Japan’s apologies to the former ‘comfort women’ have been half-hearted and the government has refused to accept any legal liability. Japan’s answer to compensation has failed to meet international guidelines on reparation and compensation.

No more 'Comfort women'?

Can we say that after the World War II, there are no more comfort women? The answer is no, if we consider the number and cases of sexual abuses committed by military and paramilitary forces around the world and especially in Africa. It is even worse when 'peacekeepers' are also involved in these practices.

The experience of women during WWII is not unique. Women continue to suffer from systematic rape and assault in war and conflict. Women in Rwanda, Liberia, Somalia, Sierra-Leone, Burundi, DRC and Sudan have reported deliberate and systematic rape and abuse during conflict. These crimes are war crimes and human rights violations of grave magnitude.

Japan, other states and individuals should be taught that this system of forced sexual slavery is a crime against humanity that does not lapse with the passing of time. The denial of a just remedy for surviving former 'comfort women' is a human rights violation. Victims’ needs have to be at the core of any attempt to address past violations. So far, Japan’s actions have ignored their victims’ needs and actually compounded the initial human rights violations committed against them. It is well established in international law that where a state has committed gross violations of human rights and humanitarian law, as Japan did in the case of the 'comfort women'," the government is obliged to investigate such abuses, prosecute those responsible, provide adequate remedies to the victims and prevent future abuses.

Never again, the brutality of men at war!

These women deserve justice. It is vital that the surviving 'comfort women' as we are celebrating the International Women’s Day, are given back their dignity. Just remedy for the survivors of the comfort system will give hope to survivors and victims, as well as set a precedent for other women suffering today.

* Joseph Yav is a lecturer in law, at the Faculty of Law, University of Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo and is also the executive director of CERDH (Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche en Droits de l’Homme, Democratie et Justice Transitionnelle/Centre for Human Rights, Democracy and Transitional Justice Studies)[email protected]

* Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org

8 March is International Women’s Day. So the focus this week will be on blogs by African women. There are probably hundreds of blogs by African women on the continent and in the diaspora. Therefore selecting six was not an easy task. I have chosen the following because they are either consistent and have been publishing for over a year (keeping a blog consistently is no easy task) or they are exceptional in content or style.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/294/blog_wordsbody.gif - a literary and arts blog by Molara Wood for those who want know what is happening in the literary and arts scene in London and Lagos.

Recently she posted an interview with Nigerian writer, Mohammed Sule who recently passed away on the 12th February – on reading in Nigeria….

'Given our reading culture in this country, where those who are creating these problems have little or no time to read, how could the writers really change the ills? ......The people who are causing the ills are in the minority while those who are reading are in the majority. So if you are able to reach the majority, if you are able to reach about a million people, they may have different perspectives about the book, but your preaching will get through. And then we are moving forward. Of course, I’m also aware of the poor reaching culture. When I was in primary school, we had a library where we could read. It was the same in secondary school. And we read a lot. But these days, even some university graduates hardly read. So it is a fundamental problem. But I don’t believe the problem cannot be solve if all those concerned wake up to their responsibilities.'

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Mshairi - Kenyan blogger who writes on women’s issues, human rights as well as some of the best poetry online. Mshairi has also been involved with me in setting up the African Women’s blog. On the night of the lunar eclipse she wrote

'As night deepens, thrilled we stand in wonder
in awe, a crystalline sky a mantle of stars.
Spectacularly ascending over the surface
the moon regally glides over earth’s shade
little by little, once a crescent then engulfed
we marvel at moonlight’s luminosity loss. A
lingering darkening an effervescent cerise glow
vivid hues of gray and orange.'

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Freedom for Egyptians - “Freedom and Democracy are the only guarantees for human dignity, self-respect and human rights – an important statement if you are an Egyptian – one of the few countries that has imprisoned bloggers. Her comment on the sentencing of Egyptian blogger, Abdel kareem Nabil Soliman Amer.

'It is really sad! Egypt is setting a dangerous precedent for trying and sentencing internet writers and bloggers when other countries are working on raising the ceiling of freedom of expression………….And the biggest disaster is that it is not the issue to agree or disagree with Kareem Amer's blog, but the real disappointment is that many people are supporting jailing Kareem, including his family. They do not know that regardless where do they stand on politics or religion, their turn is coming......I am not shocked but sad.'

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Ore’s Notes - I was privileged to work with Ore on the BAWo project last year, supporting and encouraging young Nigerian girls in a blogging project. Without Ore’s hard and determined work the project would not have gotten off the ground. This year Ore has single headedly taken the idea further by applying and receiving funding from Hamrambee. Ore writes about life in Lagos, literature, feminism and technology. On Nigerian newspapers, not an easy decision as there are so many but she goes for…..…..

'My paper of choice then was This Day, mostly because it appeared to be so highly regarded. After trying it out for a few weeks, I realized how much I did not like that paper. So much of the news in This Day (and this is common to a lot of Nigerian newspapers) is focused almost exclusively on politics. Yes, politics affects virtually every sphere of our lives, but there is surely more to report than that. Not being very interested in politics myself, I had to admit to myself that This Day was not the paper for me. I recently tried The Guardian and while I enjoyed that, I remembered that I had read an issue of Business Day sometime last year on a flight to Abuja and actually read it cover to cover.'

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Afromusing - Afromusing blogs on alternative technology especially solar power, renewable energy and technology in general as well as the occasional dip into music and film. Recently she ran a test on an I-pod solar charger...

'Ok: It works well, there are preliminary indications that it functions as designed, marketed and as expected…………I am afraid i did not realise that my schedule today did not afford me more than 2 hrs of direct sunlight, i learnt that next time i promise to test something like this…make sure i have a way of positioning said gadget in direct sunlight for the ideal amount of time to make for a true test……..If you arent stopping….I have attempted to charge it twice today. In the morning i got abt 30 minutes of direct sunlight (I got swamped and forgot to set it up earlier). I started out with a completely dead battery, when the charger was in direct sunlight after 30 seconds the ipod turned on to indicate that it is charging, needless to say, i was excited. After 30 min or so i did not have direct sunlight so it stopped charging. At this point i could turn the ipod on and even play a song, but decided not to, attempting to keep the ‘integrity’ of the experiment he he, so i turned the ipod off.'

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R. E Ekosso’s Blog - Rosemary from the Cameroon and blogs from the Netherlands on race, literature, feminism and just about anything that catches her eye. Recently she wrote two posts about Chinua Achebe’s famous essay on Joseph Conrad’s “In the Heart of Darkness” ….some of her thoughts.

'The white man knows all the plant species in my world, and can tell where oil will be discovered even before the organic matter has finished rotting. He has complete mastery of the extent of my resources, and can describe my diseases in great detail. If he is particularly knowledgeable, he might even be able to produce small, potted and sometimes wildly inaccurate histories of some of my people……But he does not know who I am. I do not think he wants to know, because there is no money or superiority or power in knowing me…..However, I know him better than he knows me. He studies my vital statistics, and I study his soul'

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Soul Searching - one of the older blogs by African women and one of the first I read, Soul does not have an RSS feed, google ads or any other signs of publicity on her blog. She very rarely uses links but just writes and writes – poetry, stories, thoughts. Nubian has been viciously attacked time and time again by, in particular, male members of the Nigerian community of bloggers, but has never let this intimidate her or prevent her from speaking her mind. The thing I love about Soul are her postings on her everyday experiences in London – on the tube, on the street, at work, in a club. Generally I don’t read journal type blogs because to be honest I find them boring but Soul is different – she can tell a story…. Here’s a post on loss – I feel for her on this one as I am sure most of us have experienced it at some time or the other.

'It hurts cos I was gonna back the pics up that evening. (damn you.. bloody jetlag and procrastination)
All the pics I took when I was out of town - Gone
All the pics of 'I' - Gone
All pics of eating at my fav. chicken shack by 'the cage'- Gone
All artistic shots of 'the 7 tracks' - Gone
All pics of 'I and co', 'O', 'A and co', 'K and co' - Gone
All 'artistic' images in various stages of undress - Gone (lol, just kidding)
not again!.
My heart is literally breaking right now. I need a camera for work but dang, buying the same camera again...
I think I'm going to cry. again.'

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My Realities Latifah - Blogging from Soweto in adverse conditions, Latifah’s poems are stories about her life as a lesbian victim of hate crime and living with HIV. She now has her own computer thanks to a generous soul, so hopefully she will be able to post more frequently as she can write her pieces at home and only needs to spend a minimum of time at the internet café. But working nights 6 days a week is a hard additional struggle so anything she writes is a bonus – a brave heart…..For her mother…………………..

'Thank you for being there for me
Thank you for the best mom to me
You’ve shown me that no matter what
You’ll always be by my side
Even though what the world may think about me
You still remain there for me
You have always told me things will work out fine one day and I love you for that
I have not always seen what you meant by showing me right and wrong but now i know.
Thank you for your patience and faith in me
Thank you for not judging me when others find joy in doing so everyday
Thank you for your ongoing support and courage
Akekho ofana futhi ozofana nawe!'

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Kameelah Writes - On Why I write…….

'why i write-speak//* because i am not supposed to. because prophet muhammad (pbuh) said the 'ink of a scholar is worth more than the blood of a martyr.' because cheryl wright said 'i like fighting with my words. my words whoop people's asses many a day before i have to use my fists.' and audre lorde said 'what are the words you don't yet have? what do you need to say? what are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, in silence? because me'shell ndego'ocello asked 'after a half a century of post-colonialism and swallowing the bullshit that we have been fed, the question is: how are we gonna spit it out?' because swallowing & consuming bullshit all your life is a bad for your health. because this is the real spit or swallow question. because jayne cortez asks us 'to imagine somewhere in the advance of nowhere.' because this pen is pressed for revolution.'

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Dogonland - The newest blog / journal, my friend Del has finally joined the blogosphere. I remember only a year ago her saying she could not understand this thing with blogging and Wikis……..Ok she is my friend but Dogonland is a serious and excellent project as you will see. Del has just returned from the Pan African film festival so she should be writing a lots about that in the next few days… meanwhile here is a tribute to Toni Morrison on her birthday…

'You've given black Americans a fictionalized reclamation of that traumatic memory..........racial history. Shifting back and forth in time has made some uncomfortable with your work because it's not an easy read but like Jorge Amado, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ben Okri, Gayle Jones, Maryse Conde, Pedro Almodovar, Ousmane Sembene, Isabel Allende, Chris Abani, James Baldwin, Zadie Smith, etc. you love "language" and bring the lives, deaths, births, smells, shifting perspectives, ancestral connection, earth/landscape to life. Your stories are sweeping, interwoven tales of how really good and how really heartbreaking life can be...'

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/293/blacklooks.gifBlack Looks - Do I read my own blog? Well yes, now that Annie Quarcoopome is writing regularly on colonialism / neo-colonialism and literature, plus Rethabile from Sotho blog (the only man on the blog) but a beautiful one and a poet too, Kym from Askthisblackwoman and Kameelah (see above). So yes I do read my own blog.

Blogging is not easy and to blog consistently week after week and month after month moving into years requires a special kind of commitment and so I would like to honour all those women mentioned here and the many many more that I have not included but which can be found at the African Women Blogs Aggregator - African Women's Blogs

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, and is Online News Editor of Pambazuka News.

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at pambazuka.org

Progress has been made already this year in protecting human rights worldwide, such as the recent adoption of a convention against enforced disappearances and other legislation, the top United Nations rights officer has said, but she stressed that more must be done in other areas, particularly to curb the “plague” of violence against women.

Though women in Zimbabwe are finding a greater place in the national economy, this is not necessarily translating into real growth and leadership. Zimbabwe women mastering the current crisis may lead an increasing number of households and enterprises, but still totally fail to promote their sisters to gain economic freedom.

The Zambia association for Research & Development (ZARD) has launched a new website, under its WIDNet Programme. The Women's Information for Development Network (WIDNet) is the place for information on the status of women and girls in Zambia.

In a bustling Ghana marketplace female entrepreneurs borrow small sums from a micro-finance institution. The loans aren't cheap--annual interest rates are around 36 percent--but a few borrowers explain how the money still helps out.

The Out In Africa (OIA) gay and lesbian film festival, South Africa's most popular film festival, is well into its teens. And appropriately, now in its thirteenth year, there are some big changes afoot.

The Civil Union Act, which legalised same-sex marriages, 'marked the end of the Zulu nation and its way of life'. This was the feeling at the opening of a two-day conference of the heads of Zulu warriors and maidens, organised by Local Government and Traditional Affairs MEC Mike Mabuyakhulu, in Durban this month.

A British businessman and his South African partner have brought sexual discrimination claims against a major airline to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) after they were ordered by an air hostess to "cover up" while on a domestic flight earlier this month.

Coming out of the closet in Nigerian society, is not for the faint-hearted; it's not even for the publicity-seeking. But in October 2004, Bisi Alimi - in a first - calmly revealed his homosexuality on live television. He did so on New Dawn, a popular talk show on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), in an atmosphere of transparent hostility.

The issue of lesbian and gay Africans' human rights again came to the fore recently as Anglican Church leaders met in Tanzania amid the continuing row over the consecration of a gay United States bishop in 2003. An ultimatum was sent from the conference in Dar es Salaam to US bishops to make a commitment that same-sex unions would not be blessed.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/broadcasts/phumla.jpgPhumla Masuku, the manager of a South African lesbian women's football team speaks to Sokari Ekine from Pambazuka News about the team she founded, . Based in Soweto, the team hs encountered much homophobia and racism, but successfully made it to the international Gay Games in Chicago where they won the Bronze Medal. The music in this podcast is by Freddy Macha.

LGBT activists in Nigeria are conducting workshops to educate the media on how to fairly report on issues of sexual behavior. Executive Director for the International Centre for Reproductive Health (INCRESE), Dorothy Aken’Ova, stated that activists undertook this initiative after observing that the Nigerian media failed to report fairly on sexual behaviour issues contrary to their international counterparts.

The 2006 Gender Gap report provides a comprehensive guide to how countries measure up in comparison to one another when it comes to addressing the gap between men and women in terms of economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.

United Nations agencies and the southern Sudanese government are to establish a task force to monitor cases of sexual abuse and exploitation involving international staff, officials said. Participants at a one-day workshop on the prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation on Tuesday in the southern capital of Juba agreed to launch a public information campaign against the abuse.

Kenya has been opening its school doors to more women and creating strategies to spur their interest in math and science. As numbers change slowly, advocates are realizing they face a stubborn foe.

Mali has one of the highest rates of female circumcision in Africa, but organisations working to stop the practice say they are slowly making headway to change attitudes. About 92 per cent of all Malian girls between the ages of 15 and 49 have already undergone the harmful procedure, according to the government.

The Institute of Public Health (IPH), at Makerere University, and the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), are pleased to inform you of an upcoming sub-Saharan Africa regional workshop dedicated toward developing policy communication and advocacy skills among program officials, researchers, and advocates working in the area of gender-based violence. The workshop will take place in Kampala, Uganda, 23 April - 4 May 2007.

The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children has released the report "Room to Maneuver: Lessons from Gender Mainstreaming in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations." The report seeks to share lessons and learning on the diverse approaches and methodologies used by various UN agencies to implement former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's directive to mainstream gender in all UN agencies.

According to high-ranking officials speaking at a UNIFEM-sponsored Gender Justice Workshop for South Sudan, the government of Southern Sudan has provided policy instruments designed to protect women and girls and ensure that women's concerns are addressed. What remains to be done is translating these policy instruments into laws and implement them.