Japan Press Weekly

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2008 July 2 - 8 [ANTI-N-ARMS]

Gensuikyo prepares for 2008 World Conference

With one month to go before the opening of the 2008 World Conference against A and H Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) held its National Board of Executive Directors meeting in Tokyo to discuss how to make a success of the World Conference.

Japan Gensuikyo Secretary General Taka Hiroshi in the report said that this year’s World Conference will propose a new international signature-collection drive for a nuclear-weapons-free world, the goal agreed at the 2000 NPT Review Conference, as part of global efforts in preparation for the 2010 NPT Review Conference.

Taka said, “As the U.S. policy of military intervention using the threat of nuclear proliferation as the pretext is failing, calls for abolition of nuclear weapons are reaching a new height.”

He said that the number of signatures calling for the swift abolition of nuclear weapons has reached 2.5 million and called for all grassroots movements nationwide to participate in the upcoming World Conference.

As of July 4, 77 overseas delegates from 25 countries, including foreign government representatives and NGOs, have informed the World Conference secretariat of their participation in the World Conference, including the U.N. High Representative for Disarmament Affairs who will be participating for the first time. Young activists from New Zealand, South Korea, France, and Britain will also attend the conference to discuss ways to join forces to establish a world free of nuclear weapons.