BILL NO J00304 The New York State Senate SPONSOR    AVELLA

January 29, 2013

LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION memorializing a Memorial Monument in the State of  New York that pays tribute to those who have become known to the world as ‘Comfort Women’

WHEREAS, During the Japanese colonial and wartime occupation of Asia and the Pacific Islands from the 1930s through the duration of World War II, approximately 200,000 young women were coerced into  the Comfort Women system of forced military prostitution; and

WHEREAS,  On June 16,  2012, the Comfort Women Memorial Monument was established in the Veterans Memorial at Eisenhower Park in Westbury, New York, to honor and commemorate the victims of the Comfort Women  system; and

WHEREAS,  The Memorial Monument, being the second memorial of its kind in the United States, symbolizes suffering endured by comfort women  and serves as a reminder of the crime against humanity committed through the Comfort Women system; and

WHEREAS,  It is the  custom of this  Legislative Body to recognize historical monuments within the State of New York that  are established to increase awareness of serious events that have taken place in history; and

WHEREAS, The United Nations reports that 2.4 million people across the globe are victims of human trafficking at any one time, and  80 percent of them are being exploited as sexual slaves; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED,  That this Legislative  Body pause in its deliberations to memorialize a Memorial Monument in the State of New York that pays tribute to those who have become known to the world as ‘Comfort Women’;  and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted to the Korean American Public Affairs Committee, the Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Korean American Civic Empowerment.