Japan Press Weekly

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2017 June 7 - 13 [PEACE]

Bar associations in Japan work towards realization of nuclear weapons ban treaty

In the run-up to the second round of the UN conference to negotiate a legally-binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) on June 6 held a symposium to discuss ways to bring about the realization of the nuclear weapons ban treaty.

The federation concurrently released a statement under the name of JFBA President Nakamoto Kazuhiro, urging the government of the A-bombed nation to actively work to implement the accord.

The organization representing all attorneys and bar associations in Japan announced that it will send a three-member delegation to NYC for the next session of the nuclear weapons ban negotiations (Jun.15-Jul.7). This will be the first JFBA delegation sent to the UN Headquarters since 1982.

Along with lawyers, atomic bomb survivors (Hibakusha) and antinuke NGO representatives, Japanese Communist Party member of the Lower House Kasai Akira spoke at the symposium.

Kasai, who participated in the first negotiating session as a member of the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) in late March, expressed his admiration for the long-standing nuclear weapons ban movement of Hibakusha and Japanese people as a driving force in global efforts to establish a world without nuclear weapons.

JFBA Vice President Wada Mitsuhiro explained the JFBA position against nuclear weapons, saying that it repeatedly adopted resolutions and statements calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Fujimori Toshiki, an assistant secretary general of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), said that Hibakusha working with the current Hibakusha signature drive will continue to seek cooperation with as many countries and groups as possible in the world to achieve a nuclear weapons-free planet.

Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) Vice Secretary Tsuchida Yayoi said that Gensuikyo will keep organizing events to hear Hibakusha testimonies and holding A-bomb photo exhibitions so that people both at home and abroad can understand how inhumane nuclear weapons are.