Children Interned In The Far East In World War Ii

EDM number 647 in 1996-97, proposed by Denis MacShane on 12/03/1997.

That this House expresses its deep concern that more than 50 years after the end of World War II those British children who were interned by the Japanese have received no direct compensation from any source; considers that action needs to be taken following the recommendations by the United Nations Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, adopted by the General Assembly, which welcomed the information that the Permanent Court of Arbitration is available to victims of violations of human rights, including various forms of slavery, and to states, should the parties wish to submit any matters to arbitration; draws the attention of the parties concerned to the possibility of making agreements on voluntary submission to the jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of Arbitration; considers that the prompt establishment of a Japanese administrative tribunal to deal with persons who suffered maltreatment, in particular subjection to treatment akin to slavery, would effectively settle such grievances; invites the Government of Japan to co-operate with the United Nations and the specialised agencies in this matter; notes that the Swiss and German governments have recently set up funds to compensate victims of human rights violations in World War II; and calls upon Her Majesty's Government to play its part in this process and in particular to co-operate with non-governmental organisations, which are seeking to negotiate an honourable settlement between the parties concerned.

This motion has been signed by a total of 75 MPs.