Timeline
1992: UNESCO established the Memory of the World (MOW) Program
2011: U.S. cuts UNESCO funding for the U.N. cultural agency, after its member countries approved a Palestinian bid for full membership in the body. The U.S. provided about 22 percent of its budget, making the U.S. the largest funding source. Japan, which was the country providing the second-most support (about 10%), became the country to provide the most. Currently, China provides the largest funding (about 15%) followed by Japan (about 11%).
2013: South Korean activists and scholars began discussion on the inscription of “comfort women”-related documents as MOW
March 2014: China submitted two related applications to the UNESCO MOW Programme: documents of the Nanjing Massacre and archives about “comfort women” for Japanese troops.
November 2014: The South Korean team was established to work on applying for the MOW inscription “Japanese Military ‘Comfort Women’ Supporting and Memorial Project.” The project team, headed by Heisoo Shin, was established under the Women’s Human Rights Institute (WHRI) of South Korea. WHRI provided the office space and partial funding is under the supervision of the South Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MoGEF).
April 2015: Korean Committee for Joint Nomination composed of six civil society organizations from six cities was formed
May 21, 2015: 14 groups from countries, including Korea, Japan, China, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Indonesia, and East Timor, organized the International Committee for Joint Nomination (ICJN) of Documents on the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.
October 2015: UNESCO announced that the nomination of “Documents of the Nanjing Massacre” was approved for inscription, but deferred the decision on the ones related to “comfort women.” The assessors suggested China join the multinational “comfort women”-related nomination.
December 15, 2015: Second ICJN meeting held in Seoul.
December 28, 2015: Two Ministers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from South Korea and Japan announce the “Comfort Women” agreement between South Korea and Japan.
After the agreement: WHRI ordered ICJN to vacate the office and discontinued governmental financial support. Financial support from
the South Korean government resumed after President Moon Jae-in’s government was sworn into office on May 10, 2017.
Nov. 2015 to Feb. 2016: Two Dutch institutions (the National Archives of the Netherlands in the Hague and NIOD - Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam); two in Australia (the National Archives of Australia and Australian War Memorial); and the Imperial War Museum in
London gave permission for the inclusion of their documents in the nomination.
May 2016: Just a day or days before ICJN submitted documents, three right-wing groups in Japan and one group in the U.S. submitted an application to register in the UNESCO Memory of the World Program. Their documents consisted of four categories: 1) A series of U.S. documents reporting the interrogation of Japanese prisoners of war, kept at NARA; 2) An official letter issued in 1945 by the Home Ministry of Japan to the police, held by the National Archives of Japan; 3) An order issued by the Ministry of the Army in 1938, held by the National Institute for Defense Studies; and 4) A collection of testimonies of returned military persons and civilians published from 1996 to 2007 held by the Institution of Research of Policy on Media and Broadcasting.
Their main reasons for nomination were that “the ‘comfort women’ system was a state-regulated legal prostitution organization” and that “the ‘comfort women’ were recruited by private agents and were well remunerated for their services.”
May 31, 2016: ICJN, consisting of 14 civil society nominators from eight countries, submitted an application for the “Voices of the ‘Comfort Women’” to be added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Program with a total of 2,744 documents comprised of three categories: 1) 563 official and private documents concerning the Japanese military “comfort women” system; 2) 1,449 documents relating to “comfort women,” including their testimonies; and 3) 732 documents indicating the efforts to resolve “comfort women” issues. This submission was considered the largest nomination proposal in its size of the archive in the history of the MOW Program.
Their main reasons for the submission were that “the ‘comfort women’ were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military” and were “enslaved in ‘comfort stations’ established inside or around Japanese military camps.”
October 2017: The International Advisory Committee (IAC) of UNESCO's Memory of the World (MOW) Program “postponed” the ICJN application pending “dialogue” between the applicants and the Japanese government. The revised criteria state that when an application is contested, applicants need to “talk” through a third party.
IAC’s recommendations to the Director-General: “The International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Program, following the decision of the Executive Board of UNESCO in its meeting on 16 October 2017 (202 EX/PX/DR 15.8, item 15), recommends to the Director-General that UNESCO facilitates a dialogue among the nominators of the nominations “Voices of the ‘Comfort Women’” and “Documentation on ‘Comfort Women’ and Japanese Army discipline” and concerned parties. The IAC also recommends setting a place and time convenient to the parties for this dialogue, with a view to leading to a joint nomination to encompass as far as possible all relevant documents.”
2018: An arbitrator was appointed but resigned a year later
2019: A second arbitrator was appointed
2020: ICJN holds a meeting with an arbitrator
2011: U.S. cuts UNESCO funding for the U.N. cultural agency, after its member countries approved a Palestinian bid for full membership in the body. The U.S. provided about 22 percent of its budget, making the U.S. the largest funding source. Japan, which was the country providing the second-most support (about 10%), became the country to provide the most. Currently, China provides the largest funding (about 15%) followed by Japan (about 11%).
2013: South Korean activists and scholars began discussion on the inscription of “comfort women”-related documents as MOW
March 2014: China submitted two related applications to the UNESCO MOW Programme: documents of the Nanjing Massacre and archives about “comfort women” for Japanese troops.
November 2014: The South Korean team was established to work on applying for the MOW inscription “Japanese Military ‘Comfort Women’ Supporting and Memorial Project.” The project team, headed by Heisoo Shin, was established under the Women’s Human Rights Institute (WHRI) of South Korea. WHRI provided the office space and partial funding is under the supervision of the South Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MoGEF).
April 2015: Korean Committee for Joint Nomination composed of six civil society organizations from six cities was formed
May 21, 2015: 14 groups from countries, including Korea, Japan, China, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Indonesia, and East Timor, organized the International Committee for Joint Nomination (ICJN) of Documents on the Japanese Military “Comfort Women” to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.
October 2015: UNESCO announced that the nomination of “Documents of the Nanjing Massacre” was approved for inscription, but deferred the decision on the ones related to “comfort women.” The assessors suggested China join the multinational “comfort women”-related nomination.
December 15, 2015: Second ICJN meeting held in Seoul.
December 28, 2015: Two Ministers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from South Korea and Japan announce the “Comfort Women” agreement between South Korea and Japan.
After the agreement: WHRI ordered ICJN to vacate the office and discontinued governmental financial support. Financial support from
the South Korean government resumed after President Moon Jae-in’s government was sworn into office on May 10, 2017.
Nov. 2015 to Feb. 2016: Two Dutch institutions (the National Archives of the Netherlands in the Hague and NIOD - Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam); two in Australia (the National Archives of Australia and Australian War Memorial); and the Imperial War Museum in
London gave permission for the inclusion of their documents in the nomination.
May 2016: Just a day or days before ICJN submitted documents, three right-wing groups in Japan and one group in the U.S. submitted an application to register in the UNESCO Memory of the World Program. Their documents consisted of four categories: 1) A series of U.S. documents reporting the interrogation of Japanese prisoners of war, kept at NARA; 2) An official letter issued in 1945 by the Home Ministry of Japan to the police, held by the National Archives of Japan; 3) An order issued by the Ministry of the Army in 1938, held by the National Institute for Defense Studies; and 4) A collection of testimonies of returned military persons and civilians published from 1996 to 2007 held by the Institution of Research of Policy on Media and Broadcasting.
Their main reasons for nomination were that “the ‘comfort women’ system was a state-regulated legal prostitution organization” and that “the ‘comfort women’ were recruited by private agents and were well remunerated for their services.”
May 31, 2016: ICJN, consisting of 14 civil society nominators from eight countries, submitted an application for the “Voices of the ‘Comfort Women’” to be added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Program with a total of 2,744 documents comprised of three categories: 1) 563 official and private documents concerning the Japanese military “comfort women” system; 2) 1,449 documents relating to “comfort women,” including their testimonies; and 3) 732 documents indicating the efforts to resolve “comfort women” issues. This submission was considered the largest nomination proposal in its size of the archive in the history of the MOW Program.
Their main reasons for the submission were that “the ‘comfort women’ were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military” and were “enslaved in ‘comfort stations’ established inside or around Japanese military camps.”
October 2017: The International Advisory Committee (IAC) of UNESCO's Memory of the World (MOW) Program “postponed” the ICJN application pending “dialogue” between the applicants and the Japanese government. The revised criteria state that when an application is contested, applicants need to “talk” through a third party.
IAC’s recommendations to the Director-General: “The International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Program, following the decision of the Executive Board of UNESCO in its meeting on 16 October 2017 (202 EX/PX/DR 15.8, item 15), recommends to the Director-General that UNESCO facilitates a dialogue among the nominators of the nominations “Voices of the ‘Comfort Women’” and “Documentation on ‘Comfort Women’ and Japanese Army discipline” and concerned parties. The IAC also recommends setting a place and time convenient to the parties for this dialogue, with a view to leading to a joint nomination to encompass as far as possible all relevant documents.”
2018: An arbitrator was appointed but resigned a year later
2019: A second arbitrator was appointed
2020: ICJN holds a meeting with an arbitrator