Call for global solidarity and actions for a world without nuclear weapons

Japan Press Weekly

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

Call for global solidarity and actions for a world without nuclear weapons

The International Meeting of the 2009 World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs ended on August 5 after adopting the following Declaration:

With the passing of 64 years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki were attacked with atomic bombs, the world is at a juncture of decisive turn towards the abolition of nuclear weapons. The voices of the Hibakusha that "the humans cannot coexist with nuclear weapons" are developing into the opinion of the vast majority of the peoples around the world, and are stirring international politics. We call on all the people around the world to work in global solidarity to open a new page in history towards a nuclear weapon-free world.

With the movement of peoples against war and the threat of nuclear weapons and in support of a nuclear weapon-free, peaceful world, the world is undergoing a big change.

In April, US President Obama stated that as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the US has a "moral responsibility to act", and declared that it would "seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons." We welcome his affirmation as one by the leader of the largest nuclear power for the elimination of nuclear weapons, as well as his call to the world for cooperation. The system in which only a small number of countries keep possessing nuclear arsenal is unsustainable and dangerous. The elimination of nuclear weapons is the only way to prevent further proliferation. This is more and more widely supported in other nuclear powers and their allies, including some political leaders and elder statesmen.

It is a world where no country has nuclear weapons and where peace and security do not rely on nuclear weapons that the Hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the anti-nuclear and peace movements around the world, non-nuclear or non-aligned countries, and most people around the world have long desired and demanded. We must strengthen our action to achieve this goal.

A nuclear weapon-free world can be achieved only by making it a common goal, by working out an agreed legal framework, and by implementing it in good faith. For this, we urge the US and the other nuclear weapons states to implement the "unequivocal undertaking" to eliminate nuclear weapons, and urge the next NPT Review Conference in May 2010 to take a firm step forward towards swiftly concluding a treaty, a nuclear weapons convention, to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons.

We welcome the agreement of the US and Russian leaders on the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons, and urge them to take more bold steps to move towards the goal of Zero. We further urge an early ratification and entry into force of the CTBT, the conclusion of a verifiable Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, the renunciation of the first use of nuclear weapons, ban on use or threat to use nuclear weapons against Non-Nuclear Weapons States, as well as the creation of a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Middle East. These partial and specific measures of nuclear disarmament should be promoted, explicitly linked with the goal of the elimination of nuclear weapons.

To achieve a nuclear weapon-free world, we must break away from the notion of "nuclear deterrence" or any other fallacies that regard nuclear weapons as means for security. Possession of enormous amount of nuclear weapons or the reliance on the "nuclear umbrella" provided by a superpower for the pretext of peace and security only leads to more tension and nuclear proliferation. The modernization, maintenance and consolidation of existing nuclear arsenals, the increase in funding for military, the nuclear proliferation in the name of civil nuclear cooperation should be stopped immediately.

We protest against North Korea's nuclear weapons development and urge it to return without delay to the Six-Party Talks on the denuclearization of Korean Peninsula, abandon its nuclear development program and join the global effort to abolish nuclear weapons.

There can be no military solution to proliferation problems. Dialogue and consultation are the only way.

Despite being the only A-bombed country, Japan keeps relying on the U.S. "nuclear umbrella". This attitude places a serious obstacle in the way to achieve a nuclear weapon-free world. We express our solidarity to the Japanese movement working for a breakaway from the "nuclear umbrella" and achieving a nuclear-free and peaceful Japan based on the "Three Non-Nuclear Principles" and Article 9 of its Constitution.

Moving away from a devastating nuclear horror to a peaceful world without nuclear weapons, we must make the NPT Review Conference, in May 2010, in New York, a historic turning point.

The Abolition 2000, an international network of anti-nuclear peace movements, set May 2, 2010 an "International Action Day for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World" and together with the United for Peace and Justice called for a major New York Action and a joint presentation of signatures and petitions for the abolition of nuclear weapons to the U.N. We welcome this initiative, and call for diverse and creative joint actions from grass-roots, with the international signature campaign "For a Nuclear Weapon-Free World" as the common form of action.

We will work in solidarity with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 2020 Vision Campaign by the Mayors for Peace, Nuclear Abolition Flame campaign, Scientists for a nuclear weapon-free world campaign and with all other movements leading to the abolition of nuclear weapons.

We work in firm solidarity with the movements of the Hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and of nuclear victims all over the world. The Hibakusha, despite the deep scars inscribed in their minds and bodies, have continued to appeal for the elimination of nuclear weapons as living witnesses of the nuclear destruction. Humanity must respond to their message, draw lessons from their experiences and forge a firm will to realize a world without nuclear calamity.

We will work in solidarity with other campaigns for peace and against war; for relief of Agent Orange and other war victims; for protection of the global environment, for women's agendas; for overcoming poverty, unemployment and hunger; and for drastic cuts in military spending. Joining forces, let us build a nuclear weapon-free, peaceful and just world.

This is the future that humans must achieve. We ardently support the activities of the young people, bearers of future, with full of creativity and energy, and call on them to join in this effort. With the Hibakusha and young generation, let us rise in action now.

- Akahata, August 6, 2009