We will make NPT Review Conference a milestone toward total elimination of nuclear weapons

Japan Press Weekly

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

We will make NPT Review Conference a milestone toward total elimination of nuclear weapons

At the start of the 2009 World Conference against A & H Bombs, the International Meeting held in Hiroshima from August 3-5 adopted a declaration after concluding discussions focusing on ways to further the movement for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. (For the text of the declaration, see separate item.)

The International Meeting, which precedes rallies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was attended by 85 overseas delegates from 24 countries, representing 42 national organizations, five international and regional NGOs, 12 governments, and the United Nations.

Speaking on behalf of the Organizing Committee of the World Conference, Sawada Shoji said, "The world stands at a crucial moment with the opportunity to put an end to the era of nuclear threats that has lasted for 60 years."

A-bomb survivor Iwasa Mikiso in his speech on behalf of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Suffers Organizations (Hidankyo) criticized the Japanese government for following the U.S. policy of hiding the real damage caused by the atomic bombings and neglecting to take care of the atomic bomb survivors who have had to endure many difficult years of suffering. Referring to the Hibakusha lawsuits demanding that the government recognize their illnesses as caused by exposure to atomic bomb radiation so that they can receive necessary medical benefits, Iwasa said, "We are determined to further develop our movement to urge the government to change its policy on nuclear weapons."

Egyptian Ambassador to Japan Walid Mahmoud Abdelnasser said that U.S. President Barack Obama's Prague speech in April "gave new momentum to the efforts towards creating a world free of nuclear and hydrogen weapons."

Former U.S. diplomat Ann Wright said, "I believe, like you, that a nuclear-free world is possible. We, the citizens of the world, are the ones who must give courage to our elected leaders to choose dialogue, not bullets, to choose peace, not wars, and to choose to abolish nuclear weapons."

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo emphasized that the task now is for Japan to break away from the U.S. nuclear umbrella to become truly "non-nuclear". (For Shii speech, see separate item.)

- Akahata, August 4, 5, and 6, 2009