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Letter to the United Nations and National Governments
60 Years since the Atomic Bombing -- Time to Achieve a Total Ban and Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

The following is the letter to the United Nations and National Governments adopted by the 2005 World Conference against A & H Bombs at its Nagasaki Day Rally on August 9.

We, having taken part in the 2005 World Conference against A and H Bombs held in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the 60th year since the atomic bombing, hereby urge the United Nations and all its Member States to take action to achieve a nuclear weapon-free, peaceful and just world.

The United Nations, which commemorates its 60th anniversary in October this year, was founded with the purpose of ﾒsaving succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankindﾓ(U.N. Charter), upholding the principle of settling international disputes by peaceful means. In its first resolution, the U.N. pledged to ﾒeliminate from national armaments of atomic weapons.ﾓ This was the very starting point of the United Nations.

ﾒHiroshima and Nagasaki Never Again!ﾓ -- despite this cry of the Hibakusha, some nuclear weapons states openly declare that they would use nuclear weapons and promote their ﾒmodernization.ﾓ Nuclear weapons continue to threaten the survival of humans, and concern over proliferation is growing.

However, the tireless appeals made by the Hibakusha are heard all around the world, and the voices for a nuclear weapon-free world are now the voices of the overwhelming majority both among national governments and civil society.

This was also demonstrated at the NPT Review Conference held in May in New York, which was filled with the voices of governments and peoples of many countries demanding the fulfillment of the ﾒunequivocal undertaking ﾉ to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenalsﾓ.

Now that the NPT Review Conference has ended without any positive results, due to the adamant attitude of major powers that refuse to abolish nuclear weapons, the responsibility of the United Nations to fulfill its founding objective is much heavier than before.

We earnestly hope that the United Nations and all its member states will recall the founding principle of the Organization, and take positive action to achieve a nuclear weapon-free, peaceful and just world, including the convening of a conference focusing on how to establish a treaty to totally ban and eliminate nuclear weapons. For this, we strongly request that immediate action be taken to ensure that the Summit Conference of U.N. Member States (U.N. Summit) and the General Assembly Session will be the place to set out a specific program leading to the abolition of nuclear weapons.

On the occasion of the 60th year since the atomic bombing, we renew our determination to further develop public opinion and grassroots movements of Japan and the peoples of the world. As the collective will of the 2005 World Conference against A & H Bombs, and with the desire to ﾒmake Nagasaki the last victim city of the atomic bombing,ﾓ we are sending this letter to the U.N. and all its member states.