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JCP will do its utmost as a party with a program calling for abolition of nuclear weapons: Ichida

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi gave the following speech at the gathering to mark the 50th founding anniversary of the Japan Confederation of A- and H- Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) on August 9 in Nagasaki City:

At Nagasaki City's peace memorial service today, I listened with deep emotion to the "Peace Declaration" read by Mayor Ito Iccho.

In it he said, "For 61 years, the hibakusha atomic bomb survivors have recounted their tragic experiences to succeeding generations. Many have chosen not to hide the keloid scars on their skin, continuing to tell of things that they rather not remember. Their efforts are indeed a starting point for peace. Their voices reverberate around the world, calling for the deepest compassion of those who are working to ensure that Nagasaki is the last place on our planet to have suffered nuclear destruction."

It is great that Hidankyo is observing its 50th anniversary immediately after Hibakusha won victory in their lawsuits demanding that the government certify their illnesses as caused by atomic radiation, first in the Osaka District Court followed by the Hiroshima District Court.

Regrettably, 24 of the 183 plaintiffs in these lawsuits have died. Only 0.8 percent of the 260,000 people who are officially identified as Hibakusha have been recognized as having diseases caused by atomic bomb radiation.

Given the long struggle of Hibakusha, our joy would have been much greater if we had observed the 50th anniversary by achieving a consensus on an international treaty banning nuclear weapons and by winning state compensation for Hibakusha.

But no one can stop the calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons, calls that you have spread throughout the world. In fact, the state's mistake of trying to belittle the damage from the atomic bombings and ignore the suffering of Hibakusha is being exposed to the extent that it will not allow the government to refute Hibakusha's claims.

You have developed this movement with the determination to use Hibakusha's experiences to save the world from the crisis of the very survival of humankind. It now exerts influence throughout the world.

The Japanese Communist Party in its Program calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons. We will make every effort in cooperation with other parties to prevent Japan from becoming a war-fighting country, to allow no more Hibakusha to be created, and to achieve a drastic review and improvement of the present system of certifying Hibakusha with atomic radiation diseases.
- Akahata, August 10, 2006