December 3, 2023

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on December 2 issued a statement as the second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons ended. The full text of the statement is as follows:

The growing effectiveness and normative force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons–the Japanese Communist Party welcomes the success of the second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty

December 2, 2023
Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo

The second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has achieved great success, further strengthening the Treaty’s effectiveness and normative force as international law, accelerating the operationalization of the Treaty, and offering hope for achieving a world free from nuclear weapons. This accomplishment came despite adverse developments in the issue of nuclear weapons, such as threats to use nuclear weapons by Russia and Israel as well as other nuclear-weapon states’ moves to maintain and strengthen their nuclear arsenals. The Japanese Communist Party worked hard to contribute to the success of the Meeting, sending as a delegate to the meeting JCP Member of the House of Representatives Kasai Akira, who is also the Vice Chairperson of the JCP International Commission. The JCP wholeheartedly welcomes the success of the Meeting and the advancement of the TPNW.

Warning of the “increasing nuclear risks”, the Meeting’s declaration stresses that “any use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is a violation of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations” and condemns “unequivocally any and all nuclear threats, whether they be explicit or implicit and irrespective of the circumstances”.

The declaration severely criticizes the nuclear deterrence policy, saying, “Far from preserving peace and security, nuclear weapons are used as instruments of policy, linked to coercion, intimidation and heightening of tensions.” The Meeting decided to compile a report to “challenge the security paradigm based on nuclear deterrence” based on “new scientific evidence about the humanitarian consequences and risks of nuclear weapons” with the view to call for the abandonment of the nuclear deterrence theory. This was highly significant.

These developments indicate that the Treaty has exercised its normative force, restricting nuclear-weapon states’ ability to use nuclear weapons as well as overcoming the nuclear deterrence theory, which forms the worst basis for maintaining a nuclear arsenal.

The declaration stresses that none of the nuclear-weapon States “meet their legally-binding obligations under Article VI of the NPT” under which they agreed to an “unequivocal undertaking” to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals. On the other hand, the declaration reaffirms the complementarity between the TPNW and NPT, saying that the implementation of the NPT was advanced as the TPNW took force. This highlights the fact that nuclear-weapon States cannot reject the TPNW on the grounds that there already exists the NPT.

After the previous Meeting, there has been steady progress in activities in line with the Treaty’s stipulations. In relation to Article VI on victim assistance and environmental remediation and Article VII on international cooperation and assistance, it has come to light again that victims are still suffering and many of them are left without state support. States Members affirmed that they will create and implement plans for victim assistance and environmental remediation as well as promote international cooperation to reach that objective by the next Meeting. They also decided to create guidelines for the establishment of an international trust fund financing victim assistance and environmental remediation. The Treaty has been put into practice and its effectiveness and normative force as international law are growing. This is important.

Thirty-three non-States Members attended the Meeting as observers. Among them were NATO member nations and other U.S. allies, whose attendance and comments were welcomed.

Meanwhile, many expressed disappointments and/or were puzzled about the absence of representatives from the Japanese government. Equatorial Guinea criticized the Japanese government’s attitude, saying that while stressing the need for the abolition of nuclear weapons, Japan always takes the same positions as nuclear-weapon States in United Nation General Assembly referendums.

The Japanese government says that it will play a role as a bridge, but it refuses to take part in the Meeting as an observer and declines to engage in dialogue and discussions. This is shameful.

As a political party of the world’s only country that suffered wartime atomic attacks, the JCP urges the Japanese government to abandon its entrenched belief in the nuclear deterrence theory and decide to join the Treaty.