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2012 April 25 - May 8 [ANTI-N-ARMS]

Japan Gensuikyo meets with UN Representative in Vienna

Delegates of the Japan Council against A&H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) on May 3 in Vienna had a talk with a representative of United Nations for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

On the occasion of the 1st preparatory committee meeting for the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference being held in Vienna, Japan Gensuikyo and the Japan Confederation of A- and H- Bombs Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) sent delegations in order to request representatives of member countries on the committee to cooperate with them. The delegates met with Angela Kane, newly assumed U.N. High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

Japan Gensuikyo representative director Taka Hiroshi expressed his gratitude that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon sent his messages of support to the 2010 and 2011 World Conference against A&H Bombs, and that former U.N. High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Sergio de Queiroz Duarte had participated in the conference and delivered his address expressing solidarity each year since 2008. He said, “I am looking forward to continuing to work together.”

Taka also handed Angela a photograph taken at a ceremony in which the delegation received more than 1,540,000 signatures in the “Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons” collected across Japan.

Angela replied that sharing globally the atomic bomb victims’ experiences has become more important than ever to be able to endorse the 2010 NPT agreement. She emphasized the significance of citizens’ movements calling for the total elimination of nuclear weapons, citing Ban Ki-Moon when he said that we can only assure true security by abolishing nuclear weapons.

In Vienna, Gensuikyo and Hidankyo have jointly held an exhibition on the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki from April 30. A similar exhibit opened in downtown Tokyo from May 3. Staring at panels entitled “Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A-bombs and human beings” which Hidankyo recently created, some visitors were moved to tears.