 Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki demand that Japan play an active role in nuclear abolition The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, along with other three mayors, on February 18 visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassies of five nuclear weapons possessing countries to demand that they play an active role in the NPT Review Conference to be held in May at the U.N. headquarters in New York to discuss international efforts for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Pointing out that the U.S. government is trying to break the promise it made during the 2000 NPT Review Conference to dismantle its nuclear weapons, the mayors called on the Japanese and the U.S. government to fulfill a role in urging the coming NPT Review Conference to adopt the proposal of the Mayors for Peace calling for all nuclear weapons to be abolished by the year 2020. The mayors also requested an opportunity for the mayor of Hatsukaichi to take the floor in the NPT Review Conference as a Hibakusha. Tanigawa Shuzen, senior vice-minister for foreign affairs, replied, "We'll give positive consideration to your proposal." U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission to Japan Michael W. Michalak said nuclear weapons should ultimately be abolished, but that it will be quite difficult under present circumstances. The mayors participating in this action were those who joined the Mayors for Peace or the National Council of Japan Nuclear Free Local Authorities: Mayor of Hiroshima City Akiba Tadatoshi, Mayor of Nagasaki City Itoh Iccho, Mayor of Hatsukaichi City in Hiroshima Prefecture Yamashita Saburo, Deputy-mayor of Hirakata City in Osaka Kinoshita Makoto, and Treasurer of Naha City in Okinawa Nakamoto Jinsyo. The Mayors for Peace group was formed at the call of Hiroshima and Nagasaki mayors to promote the solidarity of cities around the world regarding the abolition of nuclear weapons when the 2nd U.N. Special Session on Disarmament was held in 1982. The organization chaired by the Hiroshima city mayor is now composed of 714 cities in 110 countries and regions. (end) |