Archive for the "Press Releases" Category
From Dar es Salaam to Charlotte, from Tokyo to Los Angeles, Over 860 Communities Join V-Day
In 2006, there will be a “new revolution.” V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls founded by playwright Eve Ensler, today announced “Vagina Warriors: The New Revolution” as the theme for the movement’s 2006 campaigns and grassroots events. From Dar es Salaam to Charlotte, from Tokyo to Los Angeles, V-Day will expand on the successful 2005 season, during which over 2500 V-Day benefit events were presented by volunteer activists around the world, educating millions of people about the issue of violence against women and girls, raising nearly $4 million and benefiting over 1000 anti-violence groups.
V-Day’s 2006 theme “Vagina Warriors: The New Revolution” celebrates new activists and leaders who are working to end violence against women in their communities. Vagina Warriors are the women and men who have often experienced violence personally or witnessed it within their communities and dedicated themselves toward ending such violence through effective, grassroots means. V-Day 2005 productions around the world from Ethiopia to China; Indiana to India; Croatia to Finland selected and honored Vagina Warriors in their communities generating attention, newspaper articles, and raising funds to support their work.
This year, V-Day events worldwide will build on the momentum by recognizing new warriors and inspire even more to join the movement. Vagina Warriors: The New Revolution will bring to light faces new and old with one thing in common – tireless and creative commitment to ending violence against women.
While event registration continues, at this time over 860 colleges and communities are confirmed to present V-Day 2006 benefit productions of “The Vagina Monologues” in 45 countries from February – March. Each community typically stages two-three nights in a row, due to popular demand and totaling 2000 fundraisers in all. Organizers on 547 college campuses have registered, the most in V-Day’s history. To date, V-Day event locations include Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Botswana, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mozambique, Saipan, Suriname, Tanzania, Wales and almost every state in the United States.
2006 Spotlight: Justice to ‘Comfort Women’
Each year V-Day draws attention to a particular group of women who are experiencing violence, with the goal of raising awareness and funds to put a worldwide media spotlight on this area and to raise funds to aid groups who are addressing it. On the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II, V-Day joins women and men around the world in calling for justice to ‘Comfort Women’ survivors. The euphemism ‘comfort women’ was coined by imperial Japan to refer to young females of various ethnic and national backgrounds who were forced to offer sexual services to the Japanese troops during the Asia/Pacific Wars between 1932 and 1945. Some were minors; others were deceptively recruited by middlemen; still more were detained and forcibly abducted. Estimates of the number of ‘comfort women’ range between 50,000 to 200,000.
In the early 1990s, Korean victims of Japan’s military sexual slavery broke their silence and came forward nearly a half century after WWII, followed by other survivors in China, Taiwan, North Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Timor L’Este. Now the aging survivors are dying off one by one without redress from the Japanese government, which still denies legal responsibility.
The V-Day 2006 Spotlight joins the ‘comfort women’ survivors and women’s groups from East and Southeast Asia in calling for justice and reparations for the unanswered war crimes. V-Day is working with groups on the ground in Asia to plan a major V-Day event in Seoul during Summer 2006 to bring maximum attention to this issue. V-Day is also working to raise awareness of human trafficking as we recognize the relationship between the story of the ‘comfort women’ and the system of modern day human trafficking.
“The Good Body” and V-Day’s Annual Fundraiser in Los Angeles
Eve Ensler is currently on North American tour of her newest play “The Good Body.” The tour will reach 20 US cities from October 2005 until its culmination in April of 2006. A portion of proceeds from the tour will benefit V-Day.
With “The Good Body,” Eve turns her unique eye to the rest of the female form. Whether undergoing botox injections or living beneath burkhas, women of all cultures and backgrounds feel compelled to change the way they look in order to fit in. “The Good Body” merges cross-cultural explorations with Eve’s own personal journey coming to terms with her ‘less-than-flat, post-40’s stomach.’
Thanks to Eve and the producers of the play, this year V-Day’s 2006 annual fundraiser will take place on February 1, 2006 at the Wadsworth Theater in Los Angeles, CA. The evening’s performance will be a benefit for V-Day, followed by a reception with V-Day star supporters. The V-Day L.A. 2006 Committee includes Jane Fonda and Paula Weinstein, Honorary Chairs, Gail Berman, Carole Black, Ilene Chaiken, Robert Dowling, Sally Field, Kristin Hahn, LisaGay Hamilton, Christine Lahti, Lauren Lloyd, Dylan McDermott, Pat Mitchell, Kathy Najimy, Dawn Ostroff, Marc Platt, Emily Scott Pottruck, Shiva Rose, Cari Ross, Paula Wagner, Kerry Washington, Kimberly Paisley Williams and Rita Wilson (list in formation). The night will mark the opening of Eve’s Los Angeles run as well as her Los Angeles stage debut.
Karama Program In Africa, Asia & The Middle East
The Karama Program, which launched in Cairo in July 2005 under the leadership of V-Day Special Representative Hibaaq Osman, will continue to expand with branches set to open in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia over the next three years. To strengthen and link community-based strategies in each country, the Karama Program will organize training workshops, convene national and regional meetings, promote art and culture events, provide funding for program implementation and give communications support to the emerging networks ending gender based violence.
Help Stop Violence While You Shop/V-Day’s Online Store
V-Day’s partners continue to create unique products to raise money and awareness towards ending violence against women and girls. V-Day features these products at its online store and our sponsors and partners offer them on their sites and through special promotions. New for 2006, Unique Swiss Skin Care has announced its support of V-Day by contributing 25% of the retail sales of all Unique Swiss Skin Care products through their Double the Magic program. Products include 24-Hour Age Defying Cream, Renewal Mask and Gentle Cleanser. All Unique Swiss Skin Care Products are made with natural biotechnological ingredients derived from plant extracts and biological cultures, assuring no chemical agent contamination.
Also featured at store-vday.org are the following: V Tea, specially developed for V-Day by Zhena’s Gypsy Tea, is a white tea with vanilla, a delicate, healing potion dedicated to helping end the cycle of violence against women and girls worldwide. A special February promotion will be announced. V-Day Jewelry by GK DESIGNS for JEWELSERV, creators of sterling silver inspirational message jewelry, features a line designed exclusively for V-Day. New jewelry designs are a collaborative effort between GK Designs and Jewelserv, and are born to serve as a reminder and to further raise awareness of violence against women. New designs include: a V-Day Beaded Bracelet; V-Day and Warrior Sterling Silver Key Chains; Vagina Warrior Sterling Silver Necklace and the Vagina Warrior charm bracelet. V-Day offers its own line of T-shirts and hats including the Vagina Warrior American Apparel T-shirt and Vagina Warrior Ski Cap, V-Day T-shirt, and V-Day baseball caps featuring the official logo. The store also offers links to purchase V-Day products from Vosges Haut Chocolate, the V-Day documentary film “Until The Violence Stops,” the V-Day book “Vagina Warriors,” and more. EILEEN FISHER and LUNA bar continue to support V-Day and its efforts to end violence against women and girls around the world.
V-Day’s 2006 sponsors and NYC events will be announced in January.
Gala celebration in New York City follows a Scientific Symposium and global breast cancer educational program in New York City and nearly 40 grassroots events worldwide,
V-Day Founder Eve Ensler among Honorees – Receives Voice of Change Award
Each year V-Day creates a Spotlight around a particular group of women who are experiencing violence with the goal of raising awareness and funds to put a worldwide media spotlight on this area and to raise funds to aide groups who are addressing it. Organizers of V-Day’s Worldwide and College Campaigns are asked to raise awareness at their events and to donate 10% of their event proceeds to the Spotlight issue.
V-Day Spotlight 2006: Justice to ‘Comfort Women’
On the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II, V-Day joins women and men around the world in calling for justice to ‘Comfort Women’ survivors. The euphemism ‘comfort women’ was coined by imperial Japan to refer to young females of various ethnic and national backgrounds who were forced to offer sexual services to the Japanese troops during the Asia/Pacific Wars between 1932 and 1945. Some were minors; others were deceptively recruited by middlemen; still more were detained and forcibly abducted. Estimates of the number of ‘comfort women’ range between 50,000 to 200,000.
In the early 1990s, Korean victims of Japan’s military sexual slavery broke their silence and came forward nearly a half century after WWII, followed by other survivors in China, Taiwan, North Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Timor L’Este. Now the aging survivors are dying off one by one without redress from the Japanese government, which still denies legal responsibility. The V-Day 2006 Spotlight joins the ‘comfort women’ survivors and women’s groups from East and Southeast Asia in calling for justice and reparations for the unanswered war crimes.
With your help, we anticipate that our 2006 Spotlight will help effect real change.
We call all women and freedom-lovers in Iraq to
BOYCOTT THE REFERENDUM
They Deceive Iraqis into Voting Yes for:
A Constitution of Forcing Misogyny and Launching Civil War
Iraqi people will witness on 15-10-05 a new chapter of forced American “Democracy” which aims at manipulating the masses to vote “Yes” for the most dangerous constitution that undermines both the integrity of Iraqi society and women’s civil rights.
The occupation continues to promote for the imposed “democratic” scenario in between their military campaign of mass-killings in Iraqi cities, terrorizing families and children to turn them homeless and helpless. Meanwhile, the political forces which thrived under the occupation tend to deceive the people in their publicity campaigns over the well paid media screens by promising them peace and an end to terrorism if they all vote “Yes” for the constitution. Simultaneously, the clergy support the scenario by encouraging the “yes” vote in their public well-timed announcements.
How is a religious constitution democratic if it denies women the civil and social rights given to men? a constitution which deprives women from equality in matters of marriage and divorce? a constitution that sets the male’s permission as a condition for women’s work and education? Furthermore, a constitution of legalizing the marriage of female children – which is called rape in the civilized world, a constitution which does not recognize the Convention of Ending Discrimination Against Women because it contradicts a doctrine written fifteen hundred years ago. Are they serious at getting the votes of the female majority to laws of their own enslavement and degradation?
Our “No” vote is best represented through boycotting the referendum!
They push us in an endless dark abyss by tearing the Iraqi society apart into nationalist, ethnic, religious and sectarian parts. Furthermore, they are determined to designate ethnic IDs to areas, work places, institutions, legislative and executive assemblies, and moreover to the army, in order to reward legal status to the armed militias of the war lords of the civil war that has already broken out.
This constitution is merely digging landmines that explode and threaten with civil war in a society which is known to be civilized and has no history of falling into pitfalls of ethnic and sectarian bigotry.
We call all women and freedom-lovers in Iraq to boycott the referendum as there is no hope that this farce of “Democracy” at gun point will not have fraud results. Do not believe the lies and deceptions about the “people’s contribution to their constitution”. You need to know that the mere fact of stepping into the referendum poll centers means that you have hope in this process to be expressing people’s free will!
Women in Iraq do not have hopes for freedom and equality as long as the occupation stays and forces a religious and nationalist government on us. A struggle is needed to realize the bright and free life which we deserve – a life unachievable before driving out the occupation and sweeping the religious and nationalist political groups that have stood historically against the aspirations of women and the working class.
No to a constitution of women’s discrimination! We will advance our struggle towards full equality among women and men in a civilized, secular and egalitarian society.
Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq
10/12/2005
Ellie Hinds, director, and Jeff Payson, producer of V-Day Damariscotta have been chosen to be honored at a tea at the Governor’s Mansion by Gov. John Baldacci on October 13th, 2005. The V-Day organizers were nominated for this honor by their primary beneficiary, New Hope For Women, for their continued funding of domestic violence prevention through V-Day productions of ‘The Vagina Monologues.’ V-Day Damariscotta has raised $18,000 through benefit productions of ‘The Vagina Monologues’ and has enlightened countless women and men about violence against women and girls. This year marks Ms. Hinds and Mr. Payson’s fifth year organizing a V-Day event.
During the last week of September (26th -30th), AIUSA is organizing delegations across the country to visit the district offices of the Members of Congress (and Senators) to urge them to support the establishment of a fully independent commission. You can read more about the lobby week at: http://denouncetorture.amnestyusa.org
Join Us For A Kick Off Party For Eve Ensler As She Takes ‘The Good Body’ On Tour
Maury Rubin, The City Bakery & V-Day invite you to
LOOK GOOD BY DOING GOOD
Join Us For A Kick Off Party For Eve Ensler As She Begins
Her 20 City North American
One-Woman Tour Of
The Good Body
Send Eve off in style, give dollars in exchange for snacks and sweets from around the world
Thursday, September 29th
8-11PM
The City Bakery, 3 West 18th Street, between 5 & 6th Aves, New York, NY
Entry is free, but since a party for Eve is always a benefit for V-Day…Bring your checkbooks and credit cards…Donation ideas will be free flowing.
Some ideas to inspire you:
Contribute $1 for each minute in a performance – 90 minutes, no intermission!
Donate the amount of calories in a City Bakery reverse chocolate chip cookie – 500!
Give $1000 per costume change – 6 per show!
Space is limited, RSVP required to office@vday.org
If you are unable to attend but would like to support V-Day, http://vday.org/donate
For more information about The Good Body, http://www.thegoodbody.com
Space and snacks generously provided by The City Bakery
Champagne and wine by Barefoot Wine
We know that you join us in our grief and outrage for all of those impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
Many of you are reading news and other reports about rapes in the Superdome and other areas, and you share our growing concern for the safety of women and girls in the region. During a time like this, when violence often escalates, everyday services for women and girls who have experienced violence come to a stand still, or possibly no longer exist.
Following Hurricane Andrew in Miami, spousal abuse calls to the local community helpline increased by 50%. The Missouri floods of 1993 saw the average state turn-away rate at shelters rise 111% over the preceding year and an overall 400% increase in need for services.
With the help of our friends at the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) we learned that sexual assault services in the gulf region are at risk. There are thirty-six rape crisis centers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and they need your support. They need to repair buildings, relocate survivors, help families, and continue working with survivors of violence.
In addition, thousands of women and children fleeing domestic violence have been evacuated from shelters in the gulf coast region. Several domestic violence shelters have been completely destroyed. The Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (LCADV) states that all direct services for survivors of domestic violence have been suspended. LCADV has received reports of women being battered by their partners in the emergency shelters set up since the hurricane and many women are afraid to register with the Red Cross for fear of being found by their abusive partners. Thousands of displaced women and children who were seeking refuge in now demolished shelters require urgent assistance.
As a V-Day supporter, we know that in a time like this you too think of the immense need for aid in the region, and also specifically the aid needed to keep women safe.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to sexual assault and domestic violence survivors in the region. CALCASA’s Hurricane Relief Fund and The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Emergency Relief Fund will be distributed to sexual assault and domestic violence coalitions and centers in areas most impacted by the hurricane.
California Coalition Against Sexual Assault Hurricane Relief Fund
http://www.calcasa.org
(Hurricane Relief Fund link on front page)
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Emergency Relief Fund
http://www.ncadv.org
(Emergency Relief Fund link on front page; indicate “Emergency Relief Fund” under the section “Would you like to make your donation a tribute to someone special?” on the online donation form.)
We thank you for your help and are heartened to see so many around the world offer their support throughout the Gulf Coast.
V-Day
P.S. We are proud to announce that the organizers of the V-Day Miami event, scheduled for October 27, have decided to donate 10% of their event proceeds to V-Day to support the CALCASA and NCADV relief funds. You can attend the benefit production of “The Vagina Monologues” in Miami at Gusman Center for the Performing Arts on October 27 and support Casa Valentina—a home for foster girls transitioning out of the foster care system—and survivors of Hurricane Katrina. For event details and tickets visit
http://www.womensfundmiami.org/CasaValentina.html
call 305.274-4772
Evntures@aol.com
Tour To Reach 20 US Cities October 2005 – April 2006
Eve Ensler, the author of the international phenomenon THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, plans to explore and expose even more — when she tours North America in her new play THE GOOD BODY. Ms. Ensler will play in 20 cities in 2005 – 2006, beginning October 4, at the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota.
THE GOOD BODY, written and performed by Eve Ensler, debuted on Broadway in October 2004, following a workshop production at the Seattle Repertory Theatre and an engagement at ACT in San Francisco. THE GOOD BODY is directed by Peter Askin. The tour is produced by Harriet Newman Leve, in association with Ron Nicynski, Mark Kaplan and Michele Crowley. Associate producers are Allison Prouty and Laura Wagner. The tour is managed by 321 Theatrical Management.
When Eve Ensler takes the stage, she doesn’t just perform a play…she causes a sensation. In THE GOOD BODY she takes an inside look at the outside, exploring the cultures of beauty, food and desire through the eyes of women around the world. This provocative, hilarious, and profoundly moving show promises to be no less extraordinary than Eve’s previous triumph, THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES, which inspired a worldwide revolution. A portion of proceeds from the tour will be benefit V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls which Ensler founded.
With THE GOOD BODY, Eve Ensler turns her unique eye to the rest of the female form. Whether undergoing botox injections or living beneath burkhas, women of all cultures and backgrounds feel compelled to change the way they look in order to fit in. THE GOOD BODY merges cross-cultural explorations with Eve’s own personal journey coming to terms with her ‘less-than-flat, post-40’s stomach.’ The Associated Press called THE GOOD BODY, “Insightful, entertaining and hilarious,” the San Francisco Chronicle described it as, “Passionate, funny, frank, revealing, even shocking,” while The New York Times said THE GOOD BODY is, “forthrightly funny, bristling with wisecracks and exotically harvested snippets of wisdom.”
THE GOOD BODY features set designs by Tony nominee Robert Brill (Assassins), costume design by recent Tony Award winner Susan Hilferty (Wicked) and lighting design by Kevin Adams (Hedwig and the Angry Inch). Sound design and original music is by David Van Tieghem (Doubt), co-designed by Jill B.C. Du Boff (The Constant Wife).
EVE ENSLER (Playwright/Performer/Activist), award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues, most recently performed her new play The Good Body on Broadway in NYC, at ACT in San Francisco, and in a workshop production at Seattle Repertory Theatre. Ensler is founder and artistic director of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls. The Vagina Monologues has been translated into more than 35 languages and has run in theaters worldwide, including sold-out runs at Off-Broadway’s Westside Theater and on London’s West End (2002 Olivier Award nom., Best Entertainment). Her play Necessary Targets, set in a Bosnian refugee camp, opened Off-Broadway at the Variety Arts Theatre in February 2002, following a hit run at Hartford Stage Company. Ensler’s other plays include Conviction, Lemonade, The Depot, Floating Rhoda and the Glue Man and Extraordinary Measures. The Good Body, The Vagina Monologues, and Necessary Targets have been published by Villard/ Random House, who will also publish Ms. Ensler’s upcoming books I Am an Emotional Creature and V-World. Ensler is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship Award in playwriting, the 2002 Amnesty International Media Spotlight Award for leadership, and the Matrix Award (2002). She is an executive producer of “What I Want My Words to Do to You,” a documentary about the writing group she has led since 1998 at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women. The film had its world premiere at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the Freedom of Expression Award; the film premiered nationally on PBS’s “P.O.V.”
PETER ASKIN (Director). Recent NY credits: Eve Ensler’s The Good Body on Broadway; Privilege by Paul Weitz; Trumbo, starring Nathan Lane followed by a rotating cast, including Paul Newman and Brian Dennehy; Mike O’Malley’s Searching For Certainty; John Leguizamo’s Sexaholix, Spic-O-Rama, and Mambo Mouth. He also directed the New York, London and Los Angeles productions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Dael Orlandersmith’s Monster, Beauty’s Daughter and The Gimmick. Past New York credits include: Dinner With Demons; How It Hangs; Linda Her; Beauty Marks; Ourselves Alone; Reno; Reality Ranch; and Down An Alley Filled With Cats. Film: Peter has written (and co-written) a number of screenplays including Smithereens and Paramount Classic’s Company Man (which he also co-directed with Doug McGrath), with Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro and Woody Allen. He recently finished adapting Martin Millar’s Good Fairies of New York, and is currently adapting Someone Else’s Child by Nancy Woodruff. Television: Peter directed the HBO production of Spic-O-Rama for which he won a Cable Ace. He was the Supervising Producer for John Leguizamo’s HBO/Fox comedy series “House of Buggin’.”
THE GOOD BODY, written and performed by Eve Ensler, opens October 4th at the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, and will tour through April 2006. For more information visit http://www.thegoodbody.com For booking information contact The Road Company at (212) 302-5200.
Performance dates:
2005
Oct 4-9 St. Paul, MN Ordway Center For The Performing Arts
Oct 11-16 Philadelphia, PA Annenberg Center
Oct 18-23 Stamford, CT Stamford Center For The Arts
Nov 1 – Nov 6 Charlotte, NC Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
Nov 8-27 Miami, FL Coconut Grove Playhouse
Nov 29 – Dec 4 Raleigh, NC Fletcher Opera Theater
Dec 6-11 Dallas, TX Majestic Theatre
2006
Jan 3-8 To Be Announced IN EARLY SEPTEMBER
Jan 10-15 To Be Announced IN MID NOVEMBER
Jan 17-22 Washington, DC Lincoln Theater
Jan 31 – Feb 12 Los Angeles, CA Wadsworth Theatre
Feb 15-19 Detroit, MI Music Hall
Feb 21-23 Portland, OR The Wonder Ballroom
Feb 24-26 Seattle, WA The Moore
Feb 28 – March 5 Skokie, IL North Shore Center for the Performing Arts
Mar 7 – 19 Toronto, Canada To Be Announced
March 21-26 Boston, MA The Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College
March 28 – Aprl 2 Fort Lauderdale, FL Parker Playhouse
April 18-23 Vancouver, Canada The Vogue
April 25-30 Scottsdale, AZ Scottsdale Center for the Arts
To purchase tickets, visit http://www.thegoodbody.com
Campaign is the V-Day 2006 Spotlight
On the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War II, V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, joins women and men around the world in calling for justice to ‘Comfort Women’ survivors. The euphemism ‘comfort women’ was coined by imperial Japan to refer to young females of various ethnic and national backgrounds who were forced to offer sexual services to the Japanese troops during the Asia/Pacific Wars between 1932 and 1945. The Japanese government has never recognized the war crime or given a formal apology to the survivors.
Since 1992, The Korean Council for The Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (South Korea) has held weekly demonstrations in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul Korea calling for Justice to ‘comfort women.’
On August 10, 2005, these “Wednesday Demonstrations” will be replicated around the world on a Global Day of Action. Demonstrations will be held in Berlin, Frankfurt (Germany), Basel, Bern (Switzerland), the Netherlands, New York, Washington D.C (USA), Taiwan, the Philippines, Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya (Japan) to denounce the war crime of the Japanese Government and to demand its legal responsibilities, including compensation and an official apology.
Support for the Global V-Day Campaign for Justice to ‘Comfort Women’ has been growing throughout the world since it’s launch in February 2005.
The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan has compiled international petitions and have twice presented them to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and ILO Secretary General. During the Global Partnership for Prevent of Armed Conflict (July 19 – 21) The Korean Council presented a third petition with 550,000 signatures to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The Korean Council has been forming international consensus to solve the “Comfort Women” problem and to prevent Japan from getting the permanent membership in the UN Security Council until their government answers for these human rights violations.
In Holland, the August 10th Global Day of Action has been preceded by 60 days of demonstrations and survivors’ testimonies in front of the Japanese embassy in the Hague. Testimonies were translated and presented to the Japanese Ambassador. In its final week between 30 and 50 people showed up daily coming from all parts of the country and donning yellow umbrellas.
Groups in partnership with the global campaign include:
– The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan (South Korea)
– Japan V-Day Steering Committee (Japan)
-Asian Centre for Women’s Human Rights (Philippines)
– Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation (Taiwan)
-FOKUPERS – Communication Forum for East Timorese Women (Timor L’Este)
-Indonesian Women’s Association for Justice (Indonesia)
-Stichting Japanse Ereschulden – Japanese Honorary Debts Foundation (The Netherlands)
The global campaign is the focus of V-Day’s 2006 Spotlight. Each year V-Day spotlights a particular group of women who are experiencing violence with the goal of raising awareness and funds to put a worldwide media spotlight on this area and to raise funds to aid groups who are addressing it. Each
V-Day event is asked to donate between 1-10% of their proceeds to the Spotlight. The 2005 Spotlight on Women In Iraq, Under Siege raised over $225,000 and placed an international media spotlight on the issue resulting in widespread coverage in print, TV, and radio outlets.
Media inquiries should be directed to Susan Celia Swan at (212) 253-1823 or email
Background on “comfort women’:
The euphemism ‘comfort women’ was coined by imperial Japan to refer to young females of various ethnic and national backgrounds who were forced to offer sexual services to the Japanese troops during the Asia/Pacific Wars between 1932 and 1945. Some were minors sold into ‘comfort stations’; others were deceptively recruited by middlemen; still more were detained and forcibly abducted. Estimates of the number of ‘comfort women’ range between 50,000 to 200,000. In the early 1990s, Korean victims of Japan’s military sexual slavery broke their silence and came forward nearly a half century after WWII, followed by other survivors in China, Taiwan, North Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Timor L’Este. Now the aging survivors are dying off one by one without redress from the Japanese government, which still denies legal responsibility.. In South Korea, the elderly ‘comfort women’ survivors have held demonstrations in front of the Japanese embassy every Wednesday for 13 years, calling for justice and reparations for the unanswered war crimes.
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