AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 7, 1999

INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Honda

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 27--Relative to the war crimes

committed by the Japanese military during World War II.

during World War II.

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.

Germany flagrantly violated the Geneva and Hague Conventions and

committed atrocious crimes against humanity; and

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

fully acknowledge the crimes it committed during World War II

and to provide reparations to the victims of those crimes; 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of

California urges the Government of Japan to do both of the

atrocious war crimes committed by the Japanese military during

World War II.

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

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.

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http://www.sen.ca.gov/archives/bill/current/AJR/FROM0000/AJR0027/T990707.TXT