Japan Press Weekly

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2011 October 19 - 25 [ANTI-N-ARMS]

Hibakusha work for compensation of A-bomb damage and closure of nuclear plants

The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) on October 19 reported on Hibakusha’s local activities to achieve state compensation for damages from the atomic bombings and a step-by-step decommissioning of nuclear reactors throughout Japan at its prefectural representatives’ meeting in Tokyo.

Hidankyo is striving to have the national government revise the Hibakusha Aid Law by 2015, the 70th anniversary of the A-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and include state responsibility to compensate for the A-bomb damage and its determination to abolish nuclear weapons in a revised law.

It also calls on the government to check the safety of all nuclear reactors in the country and to decommission them in stages in order to create a society that does not rely on nuclear energy in the future.

Participants in the meeting reported on their local efforts to achieve these two goals: to lobby lawmakers in the Diet and local assemblies as well as to make representations to electric companies.

The meeting also reported that Hidankyo will send to the U.N. General Assembly its statement calling for a swift start of multinational negotiations for an international convention banning nuclear weapons.