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2005 World Conference against A&H Bombs at 60th year of atomic bombings

Marking the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the 2005 World Conference against A&H Bombs was held August 2-9 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Participants in this year's World Conference pledged to expand the movement working for a world completely free of nuclear weapons to the whole world.

International Meeting: Hiroshima, August 2-4

This year's International Meeting discussed ways to achieve the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, and unanimously adopted the Declaration of the International Meeting, titled, "60 Years since the Atomic Bombing: Time to Develop Actions and Cooperation for a Nuclear Weapon-Free, Peaceful, Just World."

The declaration states, "Let us make the 60th year since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 50th year of the World Conference against A&H Bombs a turning point to achieve a nuclear weapon-free, peaceful and just world" (for the full text of the Declaration, see separate item.)

Atomic bomb survivors of Hiroshima and victims of nuclear tests explosion in the United States, Russia, the Marshall Islands, Kazakhstan, and Lithuania, reported their experiences and actions calling for public compensation for their damages.

The following government representatives attended the international session: Tan Seng Sung, Under Secretary to the Department of Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia; Ambassador to Japan Miguel Ruiz-Cabanas Izquierdo, Mexico; and Mohamed Ezzeldine Abdel-Moneim, League of Arab States.

Ogata Yasuo, Member of the House of Councillors, Japanese Communist Party, stated that only by abiding by the UN Charter and working for an international order of peace can we pave the way toward the elimination of nuclear weapons and a world of peace and justice (for the full text of Ogata's speech, see separate item).

Mayor Akiba Tadatoshi of Hiroshima City stated that the call for the elimination of nuclear weapons is shared by the majority of the world's people. The City of Hiroshima designates the next one year till August 9th, 2006 as a year to continue, awaken and determine to increase efforts for the abolition of nuclear weapons, Akiba stressed.

2005 World Conference against A&H Bombs--Hiroshima Session (August 4-6)

Opening Plenary

About 8,000 delegates, including 264 from abroad, took part in the 2005 World Conference against A&H Bombs-Hiroshima Session. As many as 130 young people came from France.

In the wake of the growing international joint actions calling for nuclear weapons abolition, as seen in the May New York actions petitioning the 2005 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, this year's World Conference received the largest ever number of participants from abroad since the first conference of 1955.

Ambassador Tan Seng Sung from Malaysia and Walid Ahmed Haggag, Second Secretary from the Embassy of Arab Republic of Egypt, gave special reports.

Hiroshima Day Rally (Closing Plenary)

About 9,000 people took part in the August 6 Hiroshima Day Rally, the closing session of the 2005 Hiroshima Plenary. Youth participants were moved when they heard testimonies by hibakusha, who have been suffering from the after-effects of radioactive fall-out for the past sixty years, as well as by doctors who took care of hibakusha.

On behalf of the Swedish government, member of Parliament Kaj Nordquist gave a special report emphasizing the need to reject the possession of nuclear weapons as an option of military strategy for all governments.

Takakusagi Hiroshi, Japan Council against A and H Bombs secretary general, proposed a plan to be implemented during the next year. He called for convening a United Nations special session to discuss a total ban on nuclear weapons. The five million signatures submitted to the UN calling for nuclear weapons elimination represent the strength of the grassroots action that will actually achieve the goal, he stated. -- Akahata, August 3-10, 2005

2005 World Conference against A&H Bombs - Nagasaki

On August 7-9, the 2005 World Conference against A&H Bombs-Nagasaki was held in Nagasaki, the second atomic-bombed city. About 5,000 grassroots peace activists, including overseas delegates, discussed ways to create a peaceful and just world free of nuclear weapons.

Mayor Ito Iccho of Nagasaki City for the first time attended the opening plenary, and stated, "Now that the Japanese government talks about Japan as the only Atomic-bombed country in the world, it must take steps before it is too late to legislate the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, to establish a nuclear weapons-free regional zone, and to immediately eliminate nuclear weapons."

At the young people's forum, Yamaguchi Senji, a hibakusha, talked about his own experience in Nagasaki, and called on participants to "think about the painful experiences of hibakusha as your own pains, and accept their blood as your blood."

At the closing plenary on August 9, participants unanimously adopted a letter addressed to the United Nations and governments of respective countries calling for the holding of a UN conference on the theme of concluding an international treaty for the complete ban of nuclear weapons (for the full text of the letter, see separate item). -- Akahata, August 9-10, 2005