Japan Press Weekly

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2018 December 19 - 2019 January 8 [PEACE]

Hibakusha in this year’s first monthly ‘6th and 9th action’ call for Japan’s ratification of antinuke UN treaty

A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha) and peace activists on January 6 took to the streets in various cities across Japan to hold this year’s first “6th and 9th” antinuke action, demanding that the Abe government join the UN nuclear weapons ban treaty.

In a shopping district in Hiroshima City, members of the Hiroshima Council against A and H Bombs (Hiroshima Gensuikyo) and the Hiroshima Federation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo) raised donations to assist Hibakusha and collect signatures in support of the appeal of Hibakusha for the elimination of nuclear weapons. In the street, former Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Ohira Masayoshi gave a speech and criticized the Abe government for refusing to join the UN treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons. He underscored the need to create a government that is willing to sign and ratify the treaty, which is something the government of the only A-bombed country should do as a matter of course.

In Tochigi’s Utsunomiya City, the New Japan Women’s Association (Shinfujin) and the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo) locals took to the streets to promote the Hibakusha-led international signature collection drive.

The monthly “6th and 9th day of action” calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons has been taking place throughout Japan for decades as the dates of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were August 6 and 9 of 1945.

The UN nuclear weapons ban treaty was adopted in 2017 at the UN General Assembly. So far, the treaty has been ratified by 19 countries and signed by 69. It is stipulated that the treaty will take effect 90 days after being ratified by 50 nations. The treaty is expected to become effective this year.

Public movements in support of the antinuke UN treaty are increasing in many countries, including nuclear weapons states and their allied countries. In these countries, citizens are campaigning to push their governments to join the treaty. In the U.S., for example, the assembly of Takoma Park City, Maryland, in March 2018 unanimously adopted a declaration to back the UN treaty and many municipal assemblies followed suit. In August, California became the first U.S. state to pass a resolution supporting the treaty in its legislature.

The UN General Assembly in December approved a resolution encouraging all member countries to sign and ratify the antinuke treaty with overwhelming majority support. The international trend seeking to have the antinuke treaty enter into force is now unstoppable.