Documents of Japanese Government and the AWF

Archives > Documents of the Japanese Government and the Asian Women's Fund

Press Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa on the Occasion of Mr.Tomiichi Murayama's appointment to the Position of President of the Asian Women's Fund

1 September 2000

The Asian Women’s Fund was established in July 1995, and has now passed its fifth anniversary. Today, former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama has been chosen as the AWF's President, and the Government of Japan fully welcomes his appointment. At this time I would like to clarify once again the basic understanding of the Government of Japan, which established the AWF and has continued to support it.

The Japanese Government is painfully aware of its moral responsibility regarding the so-called wartime comfort women issue, and has been dealing with this issue in all sincerity through the AWF .
Today, former Prime Minister Murayama was appointed as the new President of the Asian Women’s Fund. A short while ago, he visited Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to greet him as the AWF's new President. The AWF was established in 1995 and therefore reached its fifth anniversary this year, and its projects expressing the feeling of atonement of the Japanese people for the so-called wartime comfort women issue are generally making steady progress. The Government has made contributions from its budget to the AWF , and has been implementing medical and welfare support projects for former comfort women through the AWF . In addition, money from a wide spectrum of the Japanese population has been donated to the AWF , to the amount of about 450 million yen. We understand that the AWF has used some of these financial resources to provide "atonement money" to 170 former comfort women so far.
Under its new President, Mr. Murayama, the AWF will do everything it can to promote its projects related to the so-called wartime comfort women issue, to collect and collate materials relating to comfort women, and to promote projects addressing problems faced by women today. The Government hopes that all these projects will make steady progress, and intends to continue cooperating as much as possible with the AWF's projects.

(Note: Mr. Hidenao Nakagawa was the Chief Cabinet Secretary at the time.)