Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts

The Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts (Dutch: Stichting Japanse Ereschulden, SJE) is an independent interest group in the Netherlands for those who incurred physical, mental and material damages inside and outside Japanese-run internment camps in the course of the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) during World War II.

Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts
Stichting Japanse Ereschulden (SJE)
Formation4 April 1990 (1990-04-04)
FounderKees Stolk
TypeNGO
Legal statusFoundation
PurposeAdvocacy group
Location
Chairperson
J.F. van Wagtendonk
Websitewww.japanse-ereschulden.nl

The SJE was founded on 4 April 1990 by former Burma Railway forced laborer Kees Stolk to demand recognition, apologies and final reparations from both Japan and the Netherlands. It received 76,000 damage claims. From 1990 on, the Japanese government has repeatedly rejected the claims on the basis of the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco and the 1956 Yoshida–Stikker Agreement between Japanese prime minister Shigeru Yoshida and Dutch foreign minister Dirk Stikker. According to the Japanese, the Dutch state has allegedly assumed sole responsibility for the victims' redress through these agreements.

The Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts also advocates for recognition of and reparations for Dutch comfort women.

The SJE organizes monthly demonstrations at the Embassy of Japan in The Hague and provides statements at the annual sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.