The New York state Senate passed a resolution Tuesday honoring a "comfort women" monument erected in the state, saying it serves as a reminder that the coercion of Asian women into sexual servitude by the Imperial Japanese Army was a "crime against humanity," a lawmaker's staff member said.

The resolution says approximately 200,000 young women were forced into military prostitution during the Japanese colonial and wartime occupation of parts of Asia and some Pacific Islands.

The resolution was a toned-down version of an earlier draft that sought an apology from the Japanese government and encouraged it to "accept historical responsibility and educate future generations about these crimes."