hibakusha

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About one hundred Hibakusha sit in to protest government appeal

About a hundred atom-bomb survivors (Hibakusha) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their supporters on May 23 staged a sit-in in front of the Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry, protesting against the ministry's appeal to a higher court the previous day and calling for the appeal to be revoked. The Osaka District Court had ordered the ministry to revoke its refusal to recognize Hibakusha's diseases as A-bomb radiation related.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuits filed in Tokyo, Nagasaki, and Aichi prefectures, including bereaved families, took part in the action calling for their illnesses to be recognized as caused by A-bomb radiation. Hibakusha are elderly, and one plaintiff died a month ago after undergoing six surgical operations.

Kumagai Kanemichi, president of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), said, "The state has lost seven similar suits in a row before over A-bomb disease recognition. The state has also lost in the Osaka District Court. Despite increasing public opinion calling for a change in certification administration, the Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry again appealed."

The letters of protest sent by the Hiroshima Prefectural Council against A and H Bombs (Hiroshima Gensuikyo) to Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro and Health, Welfare, and Labor Minister Kawasaki Jiro pointed out that the lawsuits over the A-bomb disease originate from the government going to war, leading to the atomic bombings that caused such unprecedented damage. It called for the appeal to be revoked and the administration concerning Hibakusha to be drastically reviewed in order to provide relief for them.
- Akahata, May 24, 2006