August 5 & 6, 2022

The 2022 World Conference against A and H Bombs opened on August 4 with the International Meeting in Hiroshima City in Hiroshima Prefecture.

On the first day of the three-day International Meeting, co-representative of the World Conference against A and H Bombs Steering Committee Noguchi Kunikazu on behalf of the organizers gave the keynote report. He criticized the use of the ongoing Ukraine crisis as a convenient excuse to justify the nuclear deterrence theory. He said that the prohibition and abolition of nuclear weapons is the only way for humanity to survive.

Speaking as a guest, Austrian Ambassador Alexander Kmentt who chaired the first meeting of the State Parties to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) stressed that the TPNW forms the legal and logical basis for the abolition of nuclear weapons. He said that in the anti-nuclear-weapon movement, it has become more important than ever to attract a broader range of people from all social strata.

During the International Meeting, Japanese and overseas delegates exchanged views in sessions under three themes. In one session, which focused on the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons, Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor and Assistant General Secretary of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) Kodama Michiko said, “The existence of nuclear weapons goes against humanity. The abolition of nuclear weapons is the only way to save human kind from destruction.”

Other sessions covered the following themes: International rules for peace and elimination of nuclear weapons -- Role of peace movement; and Prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons, peace and security of Asia. In these sessions, representatives of the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) and civil movements in the U.S., U.K., Belgium, Australia, and South Korea held discussions based on their activities. Along with these representatives, Ukrainian and Russian delegates participated in the discussions via internet.

Ukrainian Pacifist Movement Executive Secretary Yurii Sheliazhenko pointed out that no one can feel safe under a situation in which nuclear warheads pose a threat to the existence of the human species. He stressed the need to remove this threat in order to ensure human survival. Russian activist and film director Oleg Bodrov, who is also the chairman of the Public Council of the Southern Shore of the Gulf of Finland, said that he really feels discouraged by the Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and called on the participants to increase joint efforts to stop the war.

Japanese Communist Party Vice Chair Ogata Yasuo also participated in the discussions. He pointed out that as affirmed by the TPNW first meeting, this treaty and the NPT are complementary. He said, “Let us urge the NPT Review Conference which is underway in NYC to work hard to achieve a successful outcome that will help the TPNW and the NPT work in tandem toward the abolition of nuclear weapons.”

Past related article:
> Make 2022 antinuke World Conference an opportunity to further develop TPNW meeting’s major achievement [July 11, 2022]