Seeking Justice for "Comfort" Women: Without an International Criminal Court, Suits Brought By World War II Sex Slaves of the Japanese Army May Find Their Best Hope of Success in U.S. Federal Courts

This comment provides a general background to the Japanese military's sex slave system of World War II. Part II discusses the comfort women ("Inafu") system of the Second World War, the paucity of legal cases for redress until the 1990s, and the responses of the Japanese government and the international community. Next, the comment provides an overview of the legal efforts on behalf of the military sexual slaves to seek redress in Japanese, U.S., and international fora. The impact of the decisions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR) on wartime rape as a violation of international law and the effect of the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) are also discussed. The comment concludes that American courts presently provide the only forum capable of providing justice to these disregarded victims of World War II. [Descriptors: Armed Conflict, International - Asia, International]