00:00Here at the Amma Museum in Taipei, a moment of silence for the country's
00:12comfort women, those who were forced into sex slavery by Japan during World War II.
00:18August 14th marks the International Memorial Day for comfort women,
00:22and it's also the 80th year since the end of World War II.
00:26Taiwan had a complicated role in that conflict,
00:29fighting as a colony of Japan, and after its surrender,
00:32being incorporated into the Republic of China, an allied combatant.
00:37An estimated 200 Taiwanese young women and girls were recruited as comfort women during the war.
00:42The Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation has collected the narratives of over 50 of them,
00:46whom they call Amma, or Grandmother in Taiwanese Taigi,
00:50as their existence wasn't revealed until decades after the war,
00:54when they were already seniors. The last of these women died in 2023.
00:58Now the foundation is calling for improved education
01:01about Taiwan's comfort women for young students.
01:03They are also pushing for Taiwan to have a museum dedicated to women's history and women's rights.
01:24The National Human Rights Commission did not respond to Taiwan Plus' request for comment on the
01:28foundation's demands. By sharing these Amma stories, these advocates hope to shed light
01:33all the atrocities of World War II and place responsibility on Taiwan's government to promote
01:38equal rights to ensure the memory of the country's comfort women is not lost to history.
01:44Luffy Lee and Tiffany Wong in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.
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