BILL NUMBER: AJR 27 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 90
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 26, 1999
ADOPTED IN SENATE AUGUST 24, 1999
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 23, 1999
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 17, 1999
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 14, 1999
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 7, 1999
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Honda, Cardenas, Cunneen, Firebaugh,
Granlund, Strom-Martin, and Wildman
(Coauthors: Senators Johnston and Speier)
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, Honda. War crimes: Japanese military during World War
II.
This measure would urge the Government of Japan to finally bring
closure to concerns relating to World War II by formally issuing a
clear and unambiguous apology for the atrocious war crimes committed
by the Japanese military during World War II and immediately paying
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.
WHEREAS, Our nation is founded on democratic principles that
recognize the vigilance with which fundamental individual human
rights must be safeguarded in order to preserve freedom; and
WHEREAS, This resolution condemns all violations of the
international law designed to safeguard fundamental human rights as
embodied in the Geneva and Hague Conventions; and
WHEREAS, This resolution vociferously condemns all crimes against
humanity and at the same time condemns the actions of those who would
use this resolution to further an agenda that fosters anti-Asian
sentiment and racism, or Japan “bashing,” or otherwise fails to
distinguish between Japan’s war criminals and Americans of Japanese
ancestry; and
WHEREAS, Since the end of World War II, Japan has earned its place
as an equal in the society of nations, yet the Government of Japan
has failed to fully acknowledge the crimes committed during World War
II and to provide reparations to the victims of those crimes; and
WHEREAS, While high ranking Japanese government officials have
expressed personal apologies, supported the payment of privately
funded reparations to some victims, and modified some textbooks,
these efforts are not adequate substitutes for an apology and
reparations approved by the Government of Japan; and
WHEREAS, The need for an apology sanctioned by the Government of
Japan is underscored by the contradictory statements and actions of
Japanese government officials and leaders of a “revisionist” movement
who openly deny that war crimes took place, defend the actions of
the Japanese military, seek to remove the modest language included in
textbooks, and refuse to cooperate with United States Department of
Justice efforts to identify Japanese war criminals; and
WHEREAS, During World War II, 33,587 United States military and
13,966 civilian prisoners of the Japanese military were confined in
inhumane prison camps where they were 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, in ways that defy
description, by some accounts as many as 300,000 Chinese men, women,
and children and raped more than 20,000 women, adding to a death toll
that may have exceeded millions of Chinese; 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 Andaman
Islands, India, were exterminated by Japanese troops between March
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, At the February 1945 “Battle of Manila,” 100,000 men,
women, and children were killed by Japanese armed forces in inhumane
ways, adding to a total death toll that may have exceeded one million
Filipinos during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, which
began in December 1941 and ended in August 1945; 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, The International Commission of Jurists, a
nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Geneva, Switzerland, ruled in
1993 that the Government of Japan should pay reparations of at least
$40,000 for the “extreme pain and suffering” caused to each woman who
was forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military (referred by
the Japanese military as “comfort women”), yet none of these women
have been paid any compensation by the Government of Japan; 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 finally bring closure to concerns relating to
World War II by doing both of the following:
(1) Formally issuing a clear and unambiguous apology for the
atrocious war crimes committed by the Japanese military during World
War II.
(2) Immediately paying reparations to the victims of those crimes,
including, but not limited to, 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.