Japan Press Weekly

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2009 January 21 - 27 [ANTI-N-ARMS]

JCP calls on ICNND to recognize nuclear weapons abolition as central task

The Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers’ Group on January 22 requested Kawaguchi Yoriko, co-chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), to make efforts to have the ICNND include in its report the pursuit of the abolition of nuclear weapons.

This year, the ICNND plans to compile a report to be reflected in the 2010 NPT Nuclear Review Conference.

JCP House of Councilors member Inoue Satoshi and JCP House of Representatives member Kasai Akira, who are both 2nd generation atomic bomb survivors (Hibakusha), submitted a statement to Kawaguchi, a House of Councilors member and former foreign minister.

Kawaguchi said, “Japan must recognize its position as the only A-bombed nation and send a clear message calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons.”

The ICNND was founded at the initiative of the Australian government in September last year. Kawaguchi and former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans are its co-chairs, and the panel of 15 members includes former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry. It is scheduled to have four meetings by this autumn and compile a report at the final session in Tokyo and send it to the countries of the world.

The JCP statement pointed out that while nuclear weapons states agreed to take the “unequivocal undertaking” to eliminate nuclear weapons at the 2000 NPT Review Conference, the U.S. government “has not only refused to carry out the agreement but also has promoted the strategy of using nuclear weapons on the pretext of the need to prevent nuclear proliferation.” It went on to say, “Now is the time for nuclear weapons states to pursue nuclear weapons abolition and agree to start the negotiations in order to carry it out.”

The statement urged Kawaguchi as a representative of the A-bombed nation to call on the ICNND to include in its report that it will pursue the nuclear weapons abolition as an urgent and central task instead of delaying it as a future task.