Japan Press Weekly

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2014 April 9 - 15 [PEACE]

Hiroshima Hibakusha meet NPDI ministers

A representative of a Hiroshima Hibakusha group on April 11 exchanged opinions with foreign ministers visiting Hiroshima City for a Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative (NPDI) ministerial meeting.

Tsuboi Sunao, chairperson of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers’ Organization (Nihon Hidankyo), greeted them with, “No nous (reason), no peace.” Accompanying Hiroshima City Mayor Matsui Kazumi said, “I welcome the world’s policymakers coming to Hiroshima to learn about the realities of the atomic bombing.”

After the meeting with the world’s officials, Tsuboi told reporters that people must work to put a stop to anything that could lead to a nuclear war at any cost because it will destroy human beings. The 89-year-old Hibakusha showed his willingness to go abroad, saying, “I will go anywhere I can to send my message of peace.”

On the following day, foreign ministers or deputy ministers of 12 nonnuclear weapon states, including Japan, Australia, and the Netherlands, held the eighth NPDI Ministerial Meeting in the A-bombed city of Hiroshima.

They endorsed a statement calling for reducing nuclear weapons and urged all nuclear weapon states to negotiate for disarmament through a multilateral framework.

The statement, however, sets the abolition of nuclear weapons as an ultimate goal as if it is a challenge to be met in the far-distant future and makes no reference to a Nuclear Weapon Convention for which the immediate start of negotiations has been called.

Prior to the ministerial talks, the foreign officials had an opportunity to listen to a Hibakusha testimony given by Ogura Keiko who had been exposed to radiation at the age of eight.

Ogura later expressed concern about Japan being dependent on the U.S. nuclear umbrella. She said the need is to disallow the use of N-arms and to hold a strong conviction about their non-possession.