In 1975, the United Nations proclaimed International Women’s Year and convened the First World Conference on Women in Mexico City. This was followed by conferences in Copenhagen in 1980, Nairobi in 1985, and the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Held as the international order was being reshaped after the end of the Cold War and issues of environment, development, and human rights were gaining new prominence, the Beijing conference adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which remains an important international framework for gender equality policy. The document reaffirmed that women’s rights are an integral part of universal human rights and set out priorities for international action in twelve critical areas, including violence against women and women in armed conflict. At the NGO Forum held alongside the conference, women’s organizations from South Korea and other parts of Asia drew international attention to the Japanese military “Comfort Women” issue as a major example of wartime sexual violence and violations of women’s human rights. South Korean women’s groups worked in solidarity with activists across Asia to frame the issue not simply as a dispute over historical responsibility between states, but as a broader question of violence against women and human rights.