The Dark Legacy of Imperial Japan's Military: A Study on Comfort Women

During World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army established a system of military sexual slavery that targeted women from occupied territories in Asia and the Pacific. These women, euphemistically called "Comfort Women", were forcibly taken from their homes, trafficked across borders and subjected to sexual violence and exploitation in military brothels. This practice, which lasted from 1932 to 1945, has been recognized as a war crime and a grave violation of human rights only as of recently. This thesis aims to explore the historical, political and social dimensions of the Comfort Women issue, and to examine its legacy in contemporary international relations and human rights discourse.