In December 2000, the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery was convened through the efforts of non-governmental organizations throughout Asia to ensure some form of accountability for the aging former 'comfort women,' those women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. This massive system of enslavement had gone unpunished for more than 50 years. The public hearing included
testimonies of women from different regions of the world, including Algeria,