UNESCO’s International Advisory Committee delays review of comfort women documents

Posted on : 2017-10-22 13:30 KST Modified on : 2017-10-22 13:30 KST
Lobbying efforts from Japan, organization’s biggest contributor, prevent registration to world archive
Comfort woman survivor Lee Ok-seon takes the microphone during a fundraising appeal that was held at the House of Sharing in Gwangju City in Gyeonggi Province on Oct. 11 (Hankyoreh Archive)
Comfort woman survivor Lee Ok-seon takes the microphone during a fundraising appeal that was held at the House of Sharing in Gwangju City in Gyeonggi Province on Oct. 11 (Hankyoreh Archive)

The president of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) that reviews potential entries to UNESCO’s Memory of the World archive asked UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova to delay the review of documents related to the comfort women for the Imperial Japanese Army, the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun reported on Oct. 20. Civic groups in South Korea, China and Japan have requested UNESCO to add these documents to the registry, but it appears that Japanese lobbying efforts are making it less likely that this will actually take place.

“If we carry out the review under the current system, UNESCO will become the site of sharp conflict,” said Abdulla Alraisi, the Emirati chair of the IAC, in an interview with the newspaper during which he announced his request for a delay. Alraisi said he had asked for the review of eight disputed cases to be delayed until next year – including the comfort women records and a collection of posters related to the Palestinian struggle to which Israel has objected. He also said he had asked for steps to be taken so that applicants would be asked to discuss their application with related countries.

Registration in the Memory of the World is decided by the UNESCO Director General upon the recommendation of the IAC. Alaraisi said that Bokova had not provided him with a definite response. According to the current schedule, the comfort women documents would be reviewed by the IAC from Oct. 24 to 27 and, presuming that the review goes smoothly, would be added to the registry before the end of the year.

When documents related to the Nanjing Massacre perpetrated by Japanese troops in China was registered with Memory of the World in 2015, Japan protested that affected countries did not have a chance to object and that the Memory of the World was being exploited for political ends. When civic groups from South Korea, China and Japan requested that the comfort women documents be registered last year, Japan put pressure on UNESCO by delaying the payment of its membership dues.

The greatest share of UNESCO’s budget is provided by the US (22%), with Japan coming in second (9.6%). But as the US has not been paying its dues since Palestine was admitted into UNESCO in 2011, Japan is currently the largest contributing member, and with the US’s recent announcement that it will be leaving UNESCO because of the agency’s alleged bias against Israel makes it even easier for Japan to pressure the agency.

On Oct. 18, UNESCO’s executive committee adopted a plan for institutional change at the Memory of the World which incorporates Japan’s requests. The main change will give related countries a chance for their opinions to be heard when there is a disagreement between them over factual issues or issues of historical attitude. A final plan will be adopted next year, and this will be applied to applications that are submitted after that.

Since the application to add the comfort women documents to the registry was made last year, it is technically not subject to the institutional changes. But since Japan’s influence over the agency is growing strong enough to bring about institutional changes, the likelihood that the documents will be registered is decreasing.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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