New international campaign proposed for nuclear weapons abolition

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

New international campaign proposed for nuclear weapons abolition

The 2008 World Conference against A & H Bombs opened on August 2 in Hiroshima with an International Meeting. The three-day international discussion concluded on August 4 after adopting a “Declaration” that called for a global signature campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons to be developed during the run-up to the 2010 NPT Review Conference.

About 270 people, including 99 government and NGO representatives from 34 foreign countries, shared experiences in their movement and discussed ways to heighten international calls for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

In kicking off the discussion, Taka Hiroshi, secretary general of the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) proposed that the discussion focuses on three points. They are: (1) Urge all U.N. member countries to have the U.N. General Assembly adopt an international treaty banning nuclear weapons, (2) Launch a new international signature collection campaign calling for a nuclear weapons-free world, and (3) Endeavor to make the truth about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki known to the world through atomic bomb exhibitions.

The adopted “Declaration of the International Meeting” proposed a “worldwide action campaign at all levels of society to reach the common goal of a ‘world free of nuclear weapons’ during the 20 months leading up to the NPT Review Conference.”

“With a new signature drive for the abolition of nuclear weapons as a common form of action, let us develop international joint actions that will unite the world with many forms of creative action,” it said.

It also proposed pressing all national governments to begin negotiating a convention to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons as well as to hold activities to help to make known to the people of the world the damages of the A-bombings.

(For the full text of the declaration, see page 11.)

- Akahata, August 3 & 5, 2008