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TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Several human rights groups have jointly issued a leaflet as a basic guideline on the history of "comfort women," or those who were sexually enslaved during wartime by the Japanese imperial forces, as history textbooks rarely give reference to them at present.

All of the history textbooks for junior high school students mentioned the sexual slavery in their versions for the 1997 academic year after then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono acknowledged the forced recruitment of women by the imperial army into sexual servitude and apologized to the victims in his statement in 1993.

However, the term "comfort women" was wiped away in the 2006 versions of history textbooks from all eight publishers, although two referred to them by merely noting that young women were dispatched to the war fronts for Japanese soldiers, according to the leaflet, "Bringing Back Reference to 'Comfort Women' in Junior High School History Textbooks."

Its issuers, including the Women's Active Museum on War and Peace and the Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center, attribute the removal mainly to pressure imposed on the textbook publishers and writers as well as authorities by those who try to gloss over Japan's wartime atrocities, including lawmakers.

While seeking efforts of the publishers, the government and lawmakers to restore the reference in the 2012 version of the textbooks, the groups decided to issue the leaflet to stir public awareness on the issue of the wartime sex slavery and how the term "comfort women" has been removed, said Fumiko Yamashita, a staff member at the women's museum.

The 16-page, A5-size leaflet carries 10 question-and-answer items, such as what are comfort women, how they have been described in history textbooks and how international society has reacted to the sex slavery issue, with the aim to preserve the memories of the victims.

"It is quite important to teach the history of comfort women during mandatory education" so all children could learn about human dignity, women's rights and the significance of peace, Yamashita said.

On the issue of comfort women, the U.N. Human Rights Committee urged Japan in 2008 to "accept legal responsibility and apologize unreservedly for the comfort women system in a way that is acceptable to the majority of victims and restores their dignity."

Domestically, 21 municipalities, including Sapporo and Kunitachi, Tokyo, have adopted statements as of the end of March this year to urge the state to make sincere efforts to respond to the victims of the wartime atrocity, according to the leaflet.

The leaflet is priced at 50 yen, and can be ordered from the Violence Against Women in War - Network Japan at 03-3818-5903 or vaww-net-japan@jca.apc.org. Mailing costs will be exempted for those who buy more than 50 leaflets at once.