HUMAN RIGHTS AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM VICTORY -- HOPE FOR WOMEN IN JAPAN

In Japan, thousands of Japanese men and women have been held against their will for months and even years in makeshift prisons in order to force them to recant their chosen religion. Eighty percent of these victims of faithbreaking are women, and many are members of WFWP.

As was reported in the February newsletter, after four years of court battles, Mr. Toru Goto, who had been held against his will for over 12 years, was finally vindicated. However, this year alone, two more Unificationists have gone missing and are suspected of being held against their will by faithbreakers.

Abduction and confinement of adult Unificationists in Japan is generally conducted by the abductee's parents under the guidance of a professional "deprogrammer." But it is an experience devastating to everyone involved. After release, survivors often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and often the parents who conducted the abduction find that their adult children are completely emotionally estranged. If the survivor was married with a family, the two spouses and the children experience their own trauma.

Women's Federation for World Peace USA has been involved with anti-faithbreaking efforts by creating awareness, holding local meetings with testimonies of women victims of the faithbreaking in Japan, and interviewing victims on the radio. Further, WFWP has visited dozens of congressional offices in Washington, D.C. with Japanese victims to bring awareness of this issue to U.S. lawmakers.
Click here to read Mrs. Kiyomi Miyama's appeal to Congressman Ed Royce and her personal story of abduction.