「帝国日本軍が性奴隷制度を確立し、占領地の女性に性行為を強いた」というのが人権博物館の見解ですが、それは真実ではありません。

 米軍によって1944年(戦争終了の10か月前)に書かれた報告書によると、いわゆる慰安婦とは売春婦にすぎないこと、よい生活環境において楽しく生活していたこと、女性が拒否権を有していたこと、高額の報酬を得ていたことが記述されています。彼女たちは明らかには性的奴隷ではありませんでした。

米国国立公文書館(NARA)に是非問い合わせてみてください、（コピーを送ってもらう方法を明記）

1993年に河野洋平(当時の内閣官房長官)が、第二次世界大戦中に、日本軍が慰安婦を強制連行したという談話を発出しました。

しかし、今年六月、日本政府は河野談話を検証し、重要な事実を明らかにしました。

まず、日本の省庁や政府の機関の記録、米国の公文書を調査した後、慰安婦が強制連行されたということは確認できなかったという事実。

河野談話では自称元慰安婦の証言だけをもとに強制連行を認める記述をしました。証拠があったわけではありません。

次に、談話の元となった慰安婦からのクレームについての調査もなされていなかったという事実が明らかになりました。

にもかかわらず、河野談話がそのような内容になったのは、同談話の草案が韓国政府との交渉を経て作成されたものだからです。日本側は「日本軍による強制性を認め、賠償基金を設立すれば、この問題は収束する」と韓国側に信じ込まされていました。

当時の内閣官房副長官だった石原信雄氏は産経新聞の記者・阿比留瑠比氏に「韓国側は‘日本軍が韓国の女性を慰安婦として強制連行したことを認めれば、この問題を収束させる’と何度も話し、日本側もその認識であった」と証言しています。

しかしながら、韓国側が河野談話を更なる謝罪と賠償を請求する根拠として使っていますので、日本側の妥協は実際には有害無益でしかありませんでした。

（河野談話検証レポート、英訳のリンク）

「日本軍人に誘拐されレイプされた」というローラ・フェデンシア・デービット氏の証言も貴博物館に展示される予定だそうですね。彼女の証言から判断すれば、気の毒にもレイプの犠牲者であったかも知れませんが、「慰安婦　（売春施設で報酬を得ていた）」ではありません。

また、彼女の証言には何の証拠もありません。

記録によると日本軍はレイプを厳しく禁じていました。売春施設を経営させていた理由は、そういう間違いを犯させないためでした。

もしもデービット氏が言うように彼女とお祖母さんが十日間にわたってレイプされたのなら、それが日本軍の管理者に気づかれなかったというのは不自然です。他のケースからわかるように、そういう場合は発見されて罰せられたはずです。

It is the position of the Canadian Museum for Human rights that the Imperial Japanese military established a system of sexual slavery that forced women in occupied territories to provide sex.

That is not true.

There is a report written in 1944 (ten months before the War's end) by the U.S. Army. 

The report is about the U.S. Army's interrogation of some of these captured comfort women. They were "captured" and not "freed," because they were with the Japanese Imperial Army in Burma fleeing from the advancing U.S. military.

 You can view a copy of the report here:

http://nadesiko-action.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Japanese-Prisoner-of-War-Interrogation.pdf

On page 1 of the report it states that “A ‘comfort girl’ is nothing more than a prostitute or ‘professional camp follower’”. On page 2, it describes the good living conditions that the women enjoyed and on page 3, it states that the women had the right to refuse any customer.

According to the report, the "house master" received fifty to sixty per cent of the girls' gross earnings depending on how much of a debt each girl had incurred when she signed her contract. This meant that in an average month a girl would gross about fifteen hundred yen of which seven hundred and fifty yen were turned over to the "master". In comparison the average monthly wage of a private first class of the Japanese army was 10 yen.

These women were well paid and outside of their duties enjoyed many activities with the Japanese soldiers. They were clearly not sex slaves.

The report also states that these women easily admitted they were recruited by the Japanese, although some of the recruiting was deceptive.

When this report was written, both Japan and the USA looked for anything to use as propaganda against the other side. If there had been any indication that these women were sex slaves, that would have been publicized and used for propaganda. But because the women admitted to being prostitutes, the report had no propaganda value and it was marked "SECRET."

You can get a copy of the interrogation report yourself by contacting the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The contact email is archives2reference@nara.gov and the document is stored under the name “ARC Identifier 2144907 / MLR Number NM84 79: Query re Japanese Prisoner of War Interrogation Report #49”.

 It is true that Yohei Kono, the then Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Japanese government, issued in 1993 a statement that during World War II the Japanese military was, directly or indirectly, involved in the establishment and management of brothels and the staffing of these brothels with prostitutes (comfort women) and that in some cases the comfort women were recruited against their own will, through coaxing, coercion, and other means.

It must be recognized that at that time in japan and elsewhere in Asia brothels were legal and common. In Japan, each local government (for instance, the Public Health and Hygiene Bureau in Tokyo Prefecture) was responsible for the oversight of brothels in its area. The local police were responsible for apprehending deceitful recruiters and kept watch to ensure that prostitutes were not mistreated. In war zones it was the military authorities who fulfilled these functions, and also exercised their obligation to keep the comfort women safe. Japanese military administrators were simply doing their duty in their oversight of brothels.

In any case, as to the issue of coercion, in June this year the present Japanese government reviewed the Kono statement and its background and some important facts became clear.

First, after the 1992-3 investigation of Japanese ministry and agency records and US archive records, it was concluded that it not possible to confirm that comfort women were forcefully recruited. Second, it was discovered that there was also no investigation performed on the claims of the women who came forward and claimed to be comfort women before the statement was issued.

Despite that lack of evidence, the Kono statement contained an admission that there was coercion. The reason for that was that the contents of the Kono statement were drafted through a process of negotiation with the South Korea government, and the Japanese side was lead to believe that the issuance of a statement which admitted some coercion and the establishment and administration of a compensation fund would finally settle the issue. The admission of coercion was based on the uninvestigated claims of the women who came forward and not on any written record.

The Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary at the time, Mr.Nobuo Ishihara, told Rui Abiru, a reporter of the Sankei Newspaper, that the South Korean side repeatedly told them that if Japan acknowledged that the Japanese army forced the Korean women to become comfort women, they would accept this issue as resolved, so the Japanese side made such admission on that understanding.

 However in fact, the South Korean side has used the Kono statement as the basis for demands for further apologies and compensation so the compromise reached did more harm than good.

The report of this review can be found here: http://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000042171.pdf

Part of the exhibit on comfort women deals with a woman, Lola Fidencia David, who states that she was kidnapped and raped by Japanese soldiers during the war.  She might be an unfortunate victim of kidnapping and rape by Japanese soldiers but she was not a comfort woman, i.e. a prostitute in a brothel for the military. 

Her story is being presented without any supporting evidence. She says that she and her mother were held by Japanese soldiers in separate rooms for 10 days and raped repeatedly, but she provides no evidence other than her testimony.

Historical records show that the Japanese military strictly upheld its rules prohibiting rape. In fact the main reason for setting up a system of brothels was to provide an outlet for soldiers to engage in sexual acts. If Ms. David and her mother were raped over a ten-day period as she says, it seems remarkable that military authorities did not become aware of the situation. It would not have been condoned and the soldiers involved would have been brought up on charges, as they were in other cases.