BILL NUMBER: AJR 27 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 7, 1999
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Honda
JUNE 22, 1999
Assembly Joint Resolution No. 27--Relative to the war crimes
committed by the Japanese military during World War II.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 27, as amended, Honda. War crimes: Japanese military during
World War II.
This measure would urge the Government of Japan to formally issue
a clear and unambiguous apology for the atrocious war crimes
committed by the Japanese military during World War II and to
immediately pay reparations to the victims of those crimes. This
measure would also call upon the United States Congress to adopt a
similar resolution and would urge the President of the United States
to take all appropriate action to bring about a formal apology and
reparations by the Government of Japan.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, During World War II, the Governments of Japan and Germany
flagrantly violated the Geneva and Hague Conventions and committed
atrocious crimes against humanity; and
WHEREAS, The Government of Germany has formally apologized to the
victims of the Holocaust and gone to great lengths to provide
financial compensation to victims and to provide for their needs and
recovery; and
WHEREAS, By contrast, the Government of Japan has refused to fully
acknowledge the crimes it committed during World War II and to
provide reparations to the victims of those crimes; and
WHEREAS, 33,587 members of the United States Armed Forces and
13,966 American civilians were captured by the Japanese military in
the Pacific Theater during World War II, many of whom were current or
former residents of the State of California; and
WHEREAS, Many of the United States military and civilian prisoners
of the Japanese military during World War II were confined in
inhumane prison camps and subjected to forced labor and died
unmentionable deaths; and
WHEREAS, The Japanese military invaded Nanking, China, from
December 1937 until February 1938, during the period known as the
"Rape of Nanking," and brutally slaughtered more than 300,000 Chinese
men, women, and children and raped more than 20,000 women; and
WHEREAS, The people of Guam and the Marshall Islands, during the
Japanese occupation from 1941-1944, were subjected to unmentionable
acts of violence, including forced labor and marches, and
imprisonment by the Japanese military during its occupation of these
islands; and
WHEREAS, Three-fourths of the population in Port Blair on Andamans
Islands, India, were exterminated by Japanese troops between March
23, 1942, and the end of World War II; many were tortured to death or
forced into sexual slavery at "comfort stations," and crimes beyond
description were committed on families and young children; and
WHEREAS, The Japanese military terrorized Manila, the capital of
the Philippine Islands, from December 23, 1943, until February 14,
1944, during a period known as the "Rape of Manila," and committed
crimes that resulted in the deaths of over 100,000 Filipinos by
torture, rape, and starvation; and
WHEREAS, At least 260 of the 1,500 United States prisoners,
including many Californians, believed to have been held at Mukden,
Manchuria, died during the first winter of their imprisonment and
many of the 300 living survivors of Mukden claim to suffer from
physical ailments resulting from their subjection to Japanese
military chemical and biological experiments; and
WHEREAS, The Japanese military enslaved millions of Koreans,
Chinese, Filipinos, and citizens from other occupied or colonized
territories during World War II, and forced hundreds of thousands of
women into sexual slavery for Japanese troops; and
WHEREAS, Although the International Commission of Jurists
in Geneva, Switzerland, ruled in 1993 that women
Jurists, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Geneva, Switzerland,
ruled in 1993 that the Government of Japan should pay women
who were forced to be sexual slaves of the Japanese military during
World War II, known by the Japanese military as "comfort
women," deserve as "comfort women," at least
$40,000 each as compensation for their "extreme pain and suffering,"
none of these women have been paid any compensation by the Government
of Japan; and
WHEREAS, At the April 1999 meeting of the Northern California
Western Nevada Pacific District of the Japanese American Citizens
League (JACL), the board approved a resolution, cosponsored by the
Florin, Golden Gate, and Sequoia JACL Chapters, that supported
reparations for, and a clear apology to, the innocent civilian
victims of Japan's wartime atrocities; and
WHEREAS, At the March 1999 meeting of the Sacramento Jewish
Community Relations Council, a service of the Sacramento Jewish
Federation, the council approved a resolution supporting reparations
for, and a clear apology to, the innocent civilian victims of Japan's
wartime atrocities; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and Senate of the State of California,
jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California urges the
Government of Japan to do both of the following:
(1) Formally issue a clear and unambiguous apology for the
atrocious war crimes committed by the Japanese military during World
War II.
(2) Immediately pay reparations to the victims of those crimes,
including United States military and civilian prisoners of war, the
people of Guam and the Marshall Islands, who were subjected to
violence and imprisonment, the survivors of the "Rape of Nanking"
from December 1937 until February 1938, and the women who were forced
into sexual slavery and known by the Japanese military as "comfort
women"; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California calls
upon the United States Congress to adopt a similar resolution that
follows the spirit and letter of this resolution calling on the
Government of Japan to issue a formal apology and pay reparations to
the victims of its war crimes during World War II; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California requests
that the President of the United States take all appropriate action
to further bring about a formal apology and reparations by the
Government of Japan to the victims of its war crimes during World War
II; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Japanese Ambassador to the United States, the
President of the United States, the President of the Senate, the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each California Member
of the Senate and the United States House of Representatives.