April 29 & 30, 2023

In the runup to the G7 Hiroshima Summit, parliamentarians from G7 countries held a forum in Tokyo and Hiroshima on April 28 and 29 to discuss the issue of the elimination of nuclear weapons.

They adopted a statement urging the leaders of the G7 governments to "meet with and listen to the Hibakusha" as well as to "acknowledge the devastating harm caused by the use of nuclear weapons on people and the environment."

The Nobel Peace Prize winner International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) hosted this forum with the participation of Italian and Canadian lawmakers in addition to Japanese Dietmembers from the ruling and opposition parties, including Japanese Communist Party Kasai Akira (Lower House) and Inoue Satoshi (Upper House). Kasai and Inoue are both second-generation Hibakusha. Parliamentarians from the G7, except from the United States, sent video messages in solidarity to the forum.

Kasai at the forum in Hiroshima said, "The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) are like the two wheels on the same axel. G7 leaders should take a forward-looking stance to abolish nuclear weapons based on the past related agreements." Inoue said, "It is Japan that should shift away from the nuclear deterrence theory and implement a leading role in establishing a world without nuclear weapons because Japan knows better than any other country the inhumane consequences following the use of nuclear weapons."

On the first day of the forum in Tokyo, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo took the rostrum and demanded that G7 governments: clearly appeal to the world the anti-humanitarian aspect to nuclear weapons; meet directly with Hibakusha and sincerely listen to them; fulfill their obligation under Article 6 of the NPT to work for nuclear disarmament; and fundamentally reconsider whether maintaining nuclear deterrence is reasonable.