Mina Watanabe is a director of the Women’s Active Museum on War and Peace (WAM) based in Tokyo. WAM focuses on violence against women in war and conflict situations, particularly on the issue of Japan’s military sexual slavery (euphemistically referred to as the “comfort women” issue), and conducts exhibitions, seminars and fact-finding research, in addition to participating with the survivors and supporters of victimized countries in actions for redress.
She has been active in the field of women’s rights from 1990’s, and was actively
involved in the “Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal for the Trial of Japan’s
Military Sexual Slavery” held in Tokyo by global civil society in 2000, which clarified
the ones responsible for setting up the military sexual slavery system as well as the state responsibility of Japan. She has been internationally campaigning for the rights of the “comfort women” survivors and written alternative reports for as well as lobbied at the UN human rights institutions.
She has written a number of articles and co-authored a book on this topic in Japanese, and also provides talks for various audiences in Japan and abroad. Her articles in English include “Passing on the history of ‘comfort women’: the experiences of a women’s museum in Japan,” Journal of Peace Education, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2015, and “Japan’s military sexual slavery: Seeking reparations as on-going human rights violations.” S. Takahashi ed., Civil and Political Rights in Japan: A Tribute to Sir Nigel Rodley, Routledge, 2019.
She has been active in the field of women’s rights from 1990’s, and was actively
involved in the “Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal for the Trial of Japan’s
Military Sexual Slavery” held in Tokyo by global civil society in 2000, which clarified
the ones responsible for setting up the military sexual slavery system as well as the state responsibility of Japan. She has been internationally campaigning for the rights of the “comfort women” survivors and written alternative reports for as well as lobbied at the UN human rights institutions.
She has written a number of articles and co-authored a book on this topic in Japanese, and also provides talks for various audiences in Japan and abroad. Her articles in English include “Passing on the history of ‘comfort women’: the experiences of a women’s museum in Japan,” Journal of Peace Education, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2015, and “Japan’s military sexual slavery: Seeking reparations as on-going human rights violations.” S. Takahashi ed., Civil and Political Rights in Japan: A Tribute to Sir Nigel Rodley, Routledge, 2019.