Symposium Introductory Blog
The Second World War in Asia:
Justice Efforts, War Memory, and Reparations
by Associate Professor Cheah W.L. (National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law)
Published on 26 September 2022
This symposium on the Second World War in Asia is co-organized by CIL Dialogues and the International Criminal Law Interest Group of the Asian Society of International Law. On 2 September 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Though the Second World War came to an end 77 years ago, it continues to drive justice debates, shape social memory, and impact international relations in Asia today. This symposium explores the Second World War’s continued legal, political, and social impact in Asia by bringing together commentators from different disciplinary backgrounds to address the theme of “Justice Efforts, War Memory, and Reparations” in connection to the Second World War in Asia.
The Second World War in Asia lasted from 1937 to 1945. Atrocities were committed by all sides in the war. According to some sources, Japan’s aggression resulted in over 20 million civilian deaths but the actual death toll is probably much higher. Many civilians and POWs were subject to torture, rapes, sexual slavery, illegal detention, and forced labor. All these wartime atrocities amounted to international law violations when they were committed even though international law was not as developed then as it is now. At the time of the war, Japan had ratified several treaties that prohibit such wartime atrocities, such as the 1907 Hague Convention IV, the 1930 Forced Labor Convention (ILO No, 29), and the 1921 International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children. Apart from these treaties, parties to the Second World War were bound by customary international law which included, inter alia, certain prohibitions set out in the 1929 Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
At the end of the war, the Allied Powers pursued individual criminal accountability for Axis wartime atrocities by conducting hundreds of war crimes trials across Asia and Europe. In Asia, the Tokyo Tribunal focused on trying a small group of high-ranking military and political leaders from Japan while a range of personnel of different positions and ranks were tried before other war crimes courts established by individual Allied Powers. For example, in Singapore, the British tried Japanese military personnel before military courts for numerous atrocities, including those linked to the ‘Sook Ching’ massacre, the Burma-Thailand Death Railway, and the Double Tenth Incident. These various trials have been subject to academic study and critique, as exemplified in this symposium’s contributions by Professor Neil Boister, Professor Robert Cribb, and Professor Sandra Wilson. While these trials are of legal significance and furthered individual accountability, they only deal with atrocities committed by Japan and do not address Allied wartime actions, including the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These trials also did not give survivors much relief.
Contemporary international human rights law requires reparations to be made to victims of gross human rights violations, including wartime atrocities. Reparations, in human rights terms, includes not only monetary compensation but also a wide range of victim-centered activities, including, rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition. In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, survivors and communities in Asia were preoccupied with day-to-day questions of survival. Some calls for compensation and reparations were made, but these quickly fizzled out due to lack of political and popular support. Demands for reparations have however emerged over time and continue to persist today. Survivors and activists in the region are bringing lawsuits before various domestic courts in the region, a phenomenon analyzed in Professor Timothy Webster’s intervention. Such efforts have been accompanied by increased public interest in the war and its legacies, as demonstrated by public education and outreach projects such as the Singapore War Crimes Trials Web Portal Project and the “Hong Kong 1941” Spatial History Project, the latter’s origins and aims examined in Associate Professor Kwong Chi Man’s contribution.
The Japanese government generally responds to present-day justice and reparation claims by referring to the San Francisco Peace Treaty and other post-war inter-state bilateral treaties, pursuant to which Japan agreed to pay a certain amount of compensation and pursuant to which countries agreed to waive war-related claims against Japan. Survivors and activists have challenged this, arguing that governments do not have the right to waive the rights of their nationals when it comes to gross violations of human rights. They argue that Japan is legally obligated to make reparations to victims for its wartime violations of international law. The Japanese government has repeatedly resisted these claims. As explained in Professor Kayoko Takeda’s contribution, the Japanese government has sought to manage international public opinion through various measures, such as translation. Nevertheless, activists outside and inside Japan have adopted creative strategies to change and mobilize public opinion, as set out in Lim Jia Yi’s account of Peace Boat’s work.
Significant scholarship on the Second World War in Asia has been produced in recent years, including that by the contributors to this symposium whose interventions illuminate the war’s continued influence on present-day debates and decisions on justice, reparations, and collective memory. In his intervention, Professor Neil Boister gives a detailed account about the Tokyo Trial and its historical and legal legacies. Professor Robert Cribb and Professor Sandra Wilson undertake a critical examination of other post-war trials in the Asia Pacific region. Professor Timothy Webster’s intervention highlights and analyzes recent war-related litigation efforts by survivors and activists in Northeast Asia. Associate Professor Kwong Chi-Man’s contribution on the “Hong Kong 1941” Spatial History Project, underscores increased academic and public interest in the war. Professor Kayoko Takeda’s contribution brings our attention to the contemporary Japanese government’s response to war-related claims in her study of the latter’s use of translation to manage international relations. Lim Jia Yi’s intervention closes this symposium with her study of Peace Boat, a Japanese grassroots organization that aims to promote reconciliation and peace by encouraging better understanding of the war and its consequences on victims, including atomic bomb survivors.
Note: Thank you to the editorial and administrative support rendered by Yvette Foo, Romina Edith Pezzot, Shayan Khan, and Geraldine Ng in the preparation of this symposium.
The Tokyo Trial and its Legacy
by Professor Neil Boister
Problems of Justice in the Post-War Allied War Crimes Trials of Japanese Suspects
by Professor Robert Cribb and Professor Sandra Wilson
Northeast Asia’s War Reparations Movement: Towards the Messy Uncertainty of Democracy, Civil Society and Rule of Law
by Professor Timothy Webster
Words Matter, Translation Matters
by Professor Kayoko Takeda
Digital Humanities and World War Two in Asia: the Battle of Hong Kong 1941 Project as Example
by Associate Professor Kwong Chi Man
Memory-Making on the Ground: Peace Boat and Japanese World War II Narratives
by Lim Jia Yi