A non-governmental fund, named "History, Human Rights and Peace," was established on Thursday to help Chinese survivors of Japanese wartime atrocities file and research lawsuits for compensation.

"We established this fund to preserve historical truth, safeguard human rights, redress wrongs and work with Japanese people to safeguard and develop friendly relations," Lin Bocheng, China Foundation for Human Rights Development (CFHRD) secretary-general, said at the launch ceremony.

According to Lin, the fund has so far collected 220,815 yuan (US$27,200), including 210,000 yuan (US$25,900) from the CFHRD.

"This is an international fund, and we welcome contributions from individuals and organizations from all countries, especially Japan," said Wang Xuan, chief supervisor of the fund and head of the Chinese legal team in a lawsuit by survivors of Japanese biological warfare.

"We hope Japan will become the major contributor to this fund and that relevant parties in Japan will take over the fund to provide adequate compensation to Chinese victims," said Lin, drawing comparisons with "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future," a fund established by the German government in 2000 to provide compensation to victims of Nazi war crimes.

Lin said the fund has opened an account at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to receive contributions, the number of which is 0200001409008817390.

Nearly 30 lawsuits have been filed since the 1980s concerning "comfort women" (women forced to be sex slaves), forced labor, and biological and chemical warfare, as well as those by people injured more recently by leftover weapons.

A key stumbling block in the Japanese courts has been the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement that the Chinese government signed in 1972, renouncing any claim for compensation from Japan for good.

Claimants' lawyers argue that most postwar treaties divide compensation rights into state and civil components, and according to China's constitution the National People's Congress would have to have approved the surrender of individual rights.

Since it did not do this, the lawyers say the rights of individuals to recompense cannot have been renounced.

The CFHRD is a civil organization set up in 1994 to promote human rights in China.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2005)