August 9, 2018

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on August 8 in Nagasaki City expressed his solidarity with the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings (Hibakusha) and said that he will send an antinuke message to the world jointly with Hibakusha.

This remark was made in a meeting with Hiroshima Hibakusha and representatives of five Hibakusha organizations in Nagasaki.

In the meeting, Tanaka Shigemitsu, who heads the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors’ Council which is one of the five organizations, said, “Hibakusha have been suffering numerous hardships for 73 years due to the U.S. atomic bomb attacks. Last year, when I saw the United Nations adopt the treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, I thought it was a great day to be alive. I’ll work with the UN to achieve the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons.”

After hearing Hibakusha stories, Guterres said that he came to unite with A-bomb survivors. The UN chief stressed the need to stop a tragedy similar to the one that happened 73 years ago from happening again, adding that he will work side by side with Hibakusha to dispatch an antinuke message to the world.

Tanaka referred to the fact that the government of Japan, the only A-bombed nation in the world, has yet to sign and ratify the UN nuclear ban treaty and said, “I really feel irritated and saddened by this.” Expressing his determination to promote the Hibakusha-led international signature campaign, Tanaka said, “I hope that countries that are dependent on the ‘nuclear umbrella’ and their alliance with nuclear weapons states will sign and ratify the antinuke UN treaty. To achieve this, I’ll make my utmost efforts with the help from the UN.”

After the meeting with Hibakusha, Guterres met with Nagasaki City Mayor Taue Tomihisa and Hiroshima City Mayor Matsui Kazumi. In the meeting, Taue called on the UN chief to recommend to world leaders to visit the A-bombed cities.