We have welcomed forty overseas participants from 3 continents and twenty countries to the 4-day International Conference Against Women In War And Armed Conflict Situations held in Tokyo. We have shared the stories of women from each of these countries who have suffered sexual violence in war and conflict situation which have taken place in the past and continue until the present time, and we have shared their pain and sorrow.

We have heard the reports of Japanese military sexual slavery (" Comfort Women System"), the rape of Nanking, the sexual brutality of tens of thousands of women at the hand of Pakistani military forces during the Bangladeshi war for independence, the victimization of women through the spraying of "Agent Orange" by US military forces during the Vietnam War, and more recently, the mass rape of women in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the sexual violence against women under the Indonesian military occupation of East Timor and the military administration of Burma, the Islamic fundamentalist violence against women in Afghanistan and Algeria, rape occurring around the US military bases, forced eviction during situations of armed conflict. Through these reports we have learned of the various forms of violence suffered by women during wars and regional conflicts that reached beyond time and place.

In addition, these acts against women have not been branded as crimes, have not been tried in war crime tribunals, and the perpetrators have not been prosecuted. Meanwhile, the women victims have endured their shame in fear and silence, concealing their shame from both family and community. This sense of shame extends even to cases in which fathers killed their daughters who have been raped. It has been made clear that violence occurring during war and armed conflict situations represents the extension of violence against women which occurs on a daily basis even in so-called "times of peace" in male dominated societies including domestic violence, sexual harassment, and human trafficking.

Recently with the growth of the women's movement, women survivors in areas throughout the world have begun to raise their voices. In particular, women survivors in Korea and other countries of Asia who were forced to become sexual slaves ("comfort women") have come forward to break the silence after fifty years. In response, deeply moved, women in Japan have launched a campaign to demand that the Japanese government issue an official apology and pay compensation to the survivors. We have learned how much the courage of these women has served to empower women victims during war times and armed conflict in areas throughout the world such as the former-Yugoslavia.

The global women's movement established clearly the human rights of women on the occasion of the World Conference on Human Rights held in 1993 in Vienna, and at the end of the same year the UN General assembly issued the Convention Eliminating All Forms of Violence Against Women, calling on States to assume responsibility for eliminating various forms of violence against women occurring both in home and society. The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing made clear in the platform of action that violence against women during war and arm conflict constitutes a war crime. In this situation women have organized to provide healing and support for women's survivors, have begun to address the issue of sexual violence in war crimes tribunals such as that in the former Yugoslavia, and have begun to challenge War Crimes Tribunals in various parts of Asia including the Tokyo Tribunal from the women's perspective. This conference was held in order to assure that the voices of women victims would be reflected in the report submitted by UN Special Rapporteur Rhadika Coomaraswamy to the UN Human Rights Commission in 1998.

There is a growing trend which seeks to reverse the current leading up to the Beijing Conference, symbolized by the attack on the "comfort women" issue as volunteered prostitutes by the " Group to Study Liberal View of History" in Japan, and the emerging fundamentalist forces which overlook violence against women. However, women will no longer be silenced.

In order to eliminate violence against women during war and armed conflicts, women at the global and national levels are seeking to build a non-militarized world by bearing the responsibility of creating a peace that is based on the perspective of women's human rights. Furthermore, in their daily lives, at home, at their work sites, and in their communities, women are seeking to make changes in the culture which fans the flames of discrimination and violence.

To achieve these long-term goals, we seek to join together with women and men who are addressing the issue of violence against women in war and armed conflict throughout the world, through achieving reform in international systems such as international law and the United Nations, and the establishment of the International Criminal Court. We also seek to strengthen the movement within Japan to address the comfort women issue and force the Japanese government to accept legal responsibility, compensate, and support the survivors. We feel that this will serve as a precedent to restore honor and justice to women survivors of war throughout the world.

At this conference women throughout the world have declared their support to our movement to address the comfort women issue in Asia. At the same time, we, the women in Japan, have declared that we would join in solidarity in the struggle of women in countries throughout the world.

Next year is the 50th anniversary of the International Human Rights Declaration. At this conference the proposal was made to create women 's global network to achieve the protection of women's human rights and achieve a society free of all forms of violence. Let each of us take the first step as we join together in action with women from countries throughout the world with the women participants of this conference from countries throughout the world.