October 11-13, 2013
A delegation of a Japanese antinuclear weapons group on October 9 met with UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane and UNGA First Committee Chair Ibrahim Dabbashi at the UN Headquarters in NYC.
The 9-member delegation of the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) handed to Kane a document with 3,286,166 signatures calling for a ban on nuclear weapons.
The delegation members told the UN high representative that they will collect more than 7,000,000 signatures by the time the 2015 NPT Review Conference takes place.
In the meeting with the First Committee chair, they submitted no-nuke signatures gathered from Japanese municipal heads and local assembly chairpersons, requesting him to convey to the committee the voice of Japanese citizens who underwent the tragedy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and who are longing for a nuclear-free world.
Dabbashi responded by saying that the signatures will greatly encourage the committee in carrying out the agenda for disarmament and international security issues.
The delegation also visited the Swiss and Brazilian missions to the United Nations. The disarmament ambassador of Switzerland said that the country is making efforts to reactivate the Geneva Conference on Disarmament. The Brazilian minister plenipotentiary said he is proud of the fact that Brazil’s President Rousseff sent a message of support to the 2013 World Conference against A & H Bombs held in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
On the day before, the nine members displaying photos showing the devastation caused by the atomic bombings collected antinuclear signatures at a park near the UN Headquarters.
A 46-year-old New Yorker said, “I feel compelled to sign the petition, given how much damage nuclear weapons can bring about.”
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The delegation of the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) on October 11 met with Japanese and Egyptian representatives as a conclusion to its series of petition vists calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons to UN member states.
The delegation petitioned the Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN to agree with a multinational joint statement stressing the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and to participate in the adoption of a proposal calling for a launch of negotiations on an international treaty banning nuclear weapons.
Japan’s UN Ambassador Yoshikawa Motohide said that he will inform Japanese government officials of the petition who are attending the UN General Assembly sessions.
Citing that the Japanese government for the past 17 years abstained from voting on the proposal jointly presented by Malaysia and other nations to the UN General Assembly, the Gensuikyo delegates said, “As a citizen of the only A-bombed nation, it is hard to understand why the government can’t accept the proposal.” Yoshikawa in his reply took the stance of following the government position of non-committal as taken on various occasions such as in Diet deliberations.
In the meeting with Japan Gensuikyo, Deputy Egyptian Ambassador to the UN Osama Abdelkhalek praised the fact that Gensuikyo collected more than three million signatures in the “Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons” campaign and said, “Your efforts encourage us to work for a nuclear-free world.”
On the previous day, the major anti-nuclear weapons group asked the permanent representatives of the governments of the Philippines, Cuba, Mexico, and Austria for their cooperation to work for a world without nuclear weapons.
The 9-member delegation of the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) handed to Kane a document with 3,286,166 signatures calling for a ban on nuclear weapons.
The delegation members told the UN high representative that they will collect more than 7,000,000 signatures by the time the 2015 NPT Review Conference takes place.
In the meeting with the First Committee chair, they submitted no-nuke signatures gathered from Japanese municipal heads and local assembly chairpersons, requesting him to convey to the committee the voice of Japanese citizens who underwent the tragedy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and who are longing for a nuclear-free world.
Dabbashi responded by saying that the signatures will greatly encourage the committee in carrying out the agenda for disarmament and international security issues.
The delegation also visited the Swiss and Brazilian missions to the United Nations. The disarmament ambassador of Switzerland said that the country is making efforts to reactivate the Geneva Conference on Disarmament. The Brazilian minister plenipotentiary said he is proud of the fact that Brazil’s President Rousseff sent a message of support to the 2013 World Conference against A & H Bombs held in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
On the day before, the nine members displaying photos showing the devastation caused by the atomic bombings collected antinuclear signatures at a park near the UN Headquarters.
A 46-year-old New Yorker said, “I feel compelled to sign the petition, given how much damage nuclear weapons can bring about.”
* * *
The delegation of the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) on October 11 met with Japanese and Egyptian representatives as a conclusion to its series of petition vists calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons to UN member states.
The delegation petitioned the Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN to agree with a multinational joint statement stressing the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and to participate in the adoption of a proposal calling for a launch of negotiations on an international treaty banning nuclear weapons.
Japan’s UN Ambassador Yoshikawa Motohide said that he will inform Japanese government officials of the petition who are attending the UN General Assembly sessions.
Citing that the Japanese government for the past 17 years abstained from voting on the proposal jointly presented by Malaysia and other nations to the UN General Assembly, the Gensuikyo delegates said, “As a citizen of the only A-bombed nation, it is hard to understand why the government can’t accept the proposal.” Yoshikawa in his reply took the stance of following the government position of non-committal as taken on various occasions such as in Diet deliberations.
In the meeting with Japan Gensuikyo, Deputy Egyptian Ambassador to the UN Osama Abdelkhalek praised the fact that Gensuikyo collected more than three million signatures in the “Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons” campaign and said, “Your efforts encourage us to work for a nuclear-free world.”
On the previous day, the major anti-nuclear weapons group asked the permanent representatives of the governments of the Philippines, Cuba, Mexico, and Austria for their cooperation to work for a world without nuclear weapons.
