‘Race against time’: why China’s ‘comfort women’ still await justice 80 years on

Survivors of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery and their families have renewed their calls for Chinese courts to accept their landmark lawsuits and launch investigations as the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches.

In April last year, 18 families of former “comfort women” filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in China at a high court in Shanxi province to seek justice for atrocities committed during World War II.

Four months later, eight elderly survivors from Hunan province – now averaging 96 years old – filed a similar lawsuit, demanding a formal apology and 2 million yuan (US$276,000) in compensation from the Japanese government for each victim.

Despite the historic importance of these cases, the provincial high courts in Shanxi and Hunan have not responded or provided a timeline for when they might take up the lawsuits, nor have they thrown out the cases.

“Time waits for no one,” said Jia Fangyi, a lawyer with Beijing Jia Fang Yi Law Firm. Jia leads a group of lawyers representing the plaintiffs in Shanxi and Hunan.

For these plaintiffs, the fight is not just for restitution but for recognition of their suffering – before it is too late.

South China Morning Post