August 29, 1991 - "We were surprised to learn yesterday, from a news release originating in Geneva, that the United Nations Human Rights Sub-Commission deferred our compensation claim against the Japanese Government for slave labour and atrocities involving PoWs of the Allied Forces in World War II."

This statement was made today by Cliff Chadderton, Chief Executive Officer of The War Amputations of Canada and Coordinator of the International PoW Organizations.

"The procedure followed by the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations is that the internal discussions are held confidential. Therefore, we will not be provided with any reasons for the decision to defer the claim," Chadderton stated. "It is discouraging, however, to have to come to the conclusion that politics would enter into the Human Rights machinery at Geneva, but this does appear to be the case," Chadderton continued.

"The five-member Working Committee of the Subcommission for the 1991 Session included members from the Netherlands, China, Columbia, the Soviet Union and Ethiopia. Given the Human Rights record of some of these countries, it is understandable that, according to our information, Japan would be successful in having the Subcommission defer the claim.

Our understanding is that, after devoting nearly two days of discussion, the vote in the Working Committee was two to three. The Netherlands and China probably supported our position. It is not hard to imagine why the other three countries would side with Japan in attempting to keep human rights' violations from becoming a more public issue," Chadderton expressed.

Chadderton stated that his organization will continue to pursue the claim which has been under discussion since 1987. "Our sources indicated that the Working Committee did come to an agreement that the Peace Treaty between Japan and Canada did not extinguish the rights of Canadian PoWs to take advantage of the United Nations provisions to seek additional compensation. As this reliance of the 1952 Peace Treaty has been Japan's only defence to our claim, we feel that this finding of the Working Committee is a positive development," Chadderton stated.

"We found in Geneva, as well, that we can initiate a parallel claim under another procedure at the United Nations and we have done so. This procedure within the Human Rights Commission allows for the involvement of representatives from Canada and the other Allied Nations who might well be in a position to support the claim for payment of compensation for slave labour which is a requirement under the terms of the Geneva Conventions. The unfortunate part of all this is that it is time-consuming, and many of the World War II PoWs are dying off. Still, we must continue the fight," Chadderton stated.

He intimated that there is a great deal of support for the claim among what is known as the human rights community in Geneva including the International Red Cross and the International Commission of Health Professionals. The latest round of negotiations last week brought further support from the International Commission of Jurists -- one of the most prominent human rights groups in the world.

Chadderton concluded that the claim has attracted a great deal of interest at the Human Rights Centre in Geneva and among the International Non-Governmental Organizations. He stated that much of the ground work has been done and that if the Subcommission, which deferred the claim, indicates that it is not prepared now to give some priority to the matter, there leaves little alternative but for the International PoW Groups to make it known publicly that Japan exerted a great deal of pressure within the Human Rights Commission to divert the claim.

"Speaking on behalf of the PoWs who suffered so much at the hands of the Japanese, we feel that the public will not accept the position being taken by Japan and would support a boycott against Japanese goods if they knew the full story of the atrocities which were detailed before the War Crimes Tribunal immediately following World War II," Chadderton indicated.