'Comfort women' could set precedent

Recognizing the historic harm caused to "comfort women" in World War II could help provide a precedent to understand and address modern-day equivalent issues, a newly formed international coalition of parliamentarians against sexual slavery said on Monday.

"The resolution of the Japanese military's comfort-women issue will serve as a model for addressing the issue of girls' and women's wartime human rights for future generations," said Canadian Senator Yonah Martin, a co-chair of the coalition.

Martin made the statement as she was speaking at the launch of the International Parliamentary Coalition for Victims of Sexual Slavery. The coalition has founding members from Canada, the United States, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea, and hopes to expand to include members from a broad range of countries.