iraq5

Seven public figures call for 'No more Fallujahs'

Deeply concerned about the situation in Iraq, particularly in Fallujah, a group of Japanese public figures that includes academics and artists on April 24 published an appeal calling for the peaceful settlement of international disputes, safeguarding citizens' lives, and the swift elimination of nuclear weapons.

The Seven-person Committee to Appeal for World Peace includes Fushimi Koji (physician), Mushanokoji Kinhide (former vice president of the University of the United Nations), Tsuchiyama Hideo (pathologist), O'ishi Yoshino (photographer), Inoue Hisashi (novelist and Japan Pen Club chair), and Ikeda Kayoko (German literature translator).

An appeal for the peaceful settlement of international disputes calls for an immediate halt to use of military force, stressing that Fallujah's tragedy caused by the U.S.-led occupation forces should never be repeated. It insists that the role of the United Nations be increased and that the world gives more weight to the pioneering role of the Japanese Constitution.

Another appeal calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons urges nuclear weapons possessing states to implement promises they made at the 2000 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference.

It also calls on the Japanese government to abandon its policy of depending on U.S. military forces, especially with nuclear weapons.

The seven-person committee was established in 1955 by
Dr. Yukawa Hideki, the first Japanese Nobel Laureate in physics, Hiratsuka Raicho, early feminist movement leader, and other public figures in Japan. It has published appeals based on humanitarian and constitutional pacifism. (end)