A joint speaker event with Amnesty International and the Oxford University Korea Society. 

Speakers:

Katherine Barraclough - Amnesty International, Campaigner - East Asia
Ahn Seon Mi - Korean Council for Women Drafted into Military Sexual Slavery by Japan
Gil Won Ok

The talk will  introduce and give background information about what actually happened in WW2, what has been done, the current situation and a Q &A session with a victim Although it is about military sex slaves that Japan took during WW2, it is focused a lot on women's rights.

More Information:

The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan was established on 16 November in 1990, with its goals to resolve the issue of the military sexual slavery by Japan and thereby recover the human rights and dignity of the victims, stop militarism, prevent sexual violence against women in armed conflicts and contribute to the world peace.
Back in early 1990s, the hitherto untold stories of victims of violence against women by the Japanese military government began to be widely recognized as symbolic of Japanese wartime atrocities. Victims of these serious violations of human rights and war crimes are not confined to those of Korean origin. Hundreds of thousands of women from the Asia-Pacific and allied countries under the Japanese colonial domination and military occupation, as well as those from Japan, had been forcibly recruited to serve in the euphemistically called comfort stations set up by the Japanese armies
It has been 62 years since the end of World War II. However, the truth of the Japanese military sexual slavery issue is still contested, and victims and their countries are in charge of the difficult task of proving the truth.
It has been extremely difficult for the victims to tell their traumatic experiences to the world. Nevertheless, they have courageously "come out" and illuminated the truth of history through their testimonies. However, the Japanese government attempts to question whether victims are telling the truth.
Asian women have come together for the same goal: resolving the military sexual slavery issue. Moreover, Japanese women and conscientious scholars and the international community came together to force the Japanese government to acknowledge the truth rather than to lie and forge facts. The importance of the issue has become clearer by the discovery of Japanese military documents, which proved the systematic organization of the military sexual slavery conducted by the government, and it is needless to ask the legal responsibilities of the Japanese government. Internationally, the military sexual slavery system is acknowledged as a sexual crime systematically committed by a government against humanity, particularly in relation to the violation of women's rights during wars, religious conflicts, and civil wars. The history of military sexual slavery has become one of the most pressing issues in the international community.
UN and ILO concluded that Japanese Military Sexual Slavery was a violation of international law and recommended Japanese government to punish the war criminals and make an apology and reparation to the victims. WCC, ICJ and Amnesty International (AI) have also supported resolution of this issue.
Last year, the U.S. congress passed a resolution demanding the Japanese government to acknowledge its responsibility over the Comfort Women issue and present a formal apology to the victims. This action was also done in the Netherlands, Canadian and European parliaments. This year in the UN Human Rights Council, the Universal Periodic Review report including demands of member states to Japanese government to immediately resolve the Comfort Women issue was adopted.

The Korean Council is carrying out various campaigns to continue our accomplishments. As one of these campaigns, we are scheduled to visit UK and operate many-sided actions with Amnesty International UK on the first week of November. Last year, we had European speaking tour with AI. You can see this and other actions on AI website.(http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/japan-%E2%80%98comfort-women%E2%80%99-european-speaking-tour-20071031).

The military sexual slavery by Japan during WWII is the issue of human rights and peace. Violence against womens human rights repeats wherever war occurs around the world. Your participation and support will make it closer for the victims of the military sexual slavery by Japan during WWII to gain their dignity and human rights back.