Gensuikyo calls on Obama to make concrete efforts to outlaw and eliminate nuclear weapons

Japan Press Weekly

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

Gensuikyo calls on Obama to make concrete efforts to outlaw and eliminate nuclear weapons

The Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) has requested U.S. President Barack Obama to make efforts to achieve an international agreement to start negotiations for totally banning and eliminating nuclear weapons before the start of the 2010 NPT Review Conference.

Gensuikyo Secretary General Taka Hiroshi on September 16 visited the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and met with Second Secretary Jerome Ryan to deliver his letter to Obama together with the special resolution adopted by the 2009 World Conference against A and H Bombs calling on the world's governments to take part in the effort to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.

Referring to the upcoming U.N. Security Council summit and the U.N. General Assembly, the letter pointed out that nuclear proliferation cannot be prevented as long as the existing nuclear weapons countries justify their own nuclear arsenals as "deterrent" and "guarantee of security," and calls on the five nuclear powers, in particular the United States, to display the initiative to totally prohibit nuclear weapons.

In the meeting with Ryan, welcoming the U.S. president's earlier statements in Prague and Cairo, Taka expressed his hope to seize this opportunity to join together to get rid of nuclear weapons. He emphasized the need for the mobilization of international opinion in favor of the call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Emphasizing that unless nuclear powers eliminate their nuclear arsenals, other countries that do not have such weapons at present might want to possess nuclear weapons, Taka said nuclear weapons should be totally outlawed and requested the U.S. president to make concrete efforts to achieve this.

U.S. Embassy Secretary Ryan promised to convey the Gensuikyo letter to the United States expeditiously and expressed appreciation for the Gensuikyo request.

- Akahata, September 17, 2009