Call for a world free of nuclear weapons won wider support in U.S.

Japan Press Weekly

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

Gensuikyo secretary-general report:

Call for a world free of nuclear weapons won wider support in U.S.

Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) Secretary-General Taka Hiroshi contributed to Akahata the following report on a Gensuikyo delegation petitioning the United Nations for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

I took part in a Gensuikyo delegation visiting New York and Boston for a week from October 6 with representatives from the Tokyo, Yamanashi, and Fukushima Gensuikyo.

Submit signatures to U.N.

One of the main aims of this trip was to take more than 2.2 million signatures bearing the call “For the Swift Abolition of Nuclear Weapons” to the United Nations.

At the U.N. headquarters in New York, U.N. High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Sergio Duarte, who took part in the 2008 World Conference against A & H Bombs, and U.N. General Assembly First Committee Chairman Marco Antonio Suazo received the Gensuikyo delegation and the signatures we collected in Japan. They welcomed us and expressed high regard for our activities.

We had an opportunity to listen to discussions at the U.N. General Assembly First Committee meeting. I keenly felt that the movement for the abolition of nuclear weapons is making steady progress. As well as the Non-Aligned Movement and the New Agenda Coalition, the Rio Group of countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and the African group of countries emphasized the need to abolish nuclear weapons.

It was impressive that Norway and Australia, which are U.S. allies, were making efforts to contribute to making progress in nuclear disarmament in a concrete manner with the NPT Review Conference in 2010 in mind.

We had a meeting with Ambassador Takasu Yukio, Japanese Permanent Representative to the U.N., and visited permanent missions to the U.N. of Mexico, Malaysia, Egypt, Canada, Norway, and Pakistan. We tried to make use of discussions at these permanent missions to request them to help the United Nations, which aims to save humanity from possible calamities of war, to begin to act to get nuclear weapons abolished as a common task.

Reactions to our call were generally positive. Mexican and Egyptian officials expressed their support for the international signature campaign "For a Nuclear Weapons-Free World" that Gensuikyo started in preparation for the NPT Review Conference in 2010.

Towards 2010

We had a brainstorming session with U.S. peace activists regarding activities we will have in New York during the NPT Review Conference in 2010. Participants included International Campaign Manager for the 2020 Vision Campaign of Mayors for Peace Aaron Tovish, Abolition 2000 Alice Slater, and Vice President for Program of the NGO Committee on Disarmament Ann Hallan Lakhdhir.

With the presidential election drawing near, and also affected by the turmoil caused by the current financial crisis, preparations for the NPT Review Conference were slowed in the U.S.

I stated that an overwhelming majority of the world’s people are calling for nuclear weapons to be abolished and that at this year’s World Conference against A & H Bombs, Japanese and international delegates expressed willingness to plan various activities in preparation for the 2010 NPT Review Conference and hoped for an increase in U.S. peace activists’ initiatives in this regard.

Tovish said, “Taka is right. It is time to start planning actions for 2010.”

Immediately after this meeting, Slater made information about the discussion available on the Website of Abolition 2000.

Lakhdhir asked me to write an article to be introduced later in October at her organization’s meeting.

Active discussion is underway using email.

At the end of our visit, we participated in an anti-war rally in Boston on October 11. It was organized by United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ). Among about 3,000 participants were spirited college students.

In my speech, I expressed solidarity with the U.S. citizens’ peace movement and called on participants to take part in the effort to collect signatures “For a Nuclear Weapons-Free World”.

Gensuikyo delegation members collected more than 200 signatures there. Participants showed enthusiastic support for my speech, making a successful start in the effort toward 2010. - Akahata, October 22, 2008