Japan Press Weekly

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2017 July 5 - 11 [PEACE]

Hibakusha gather to celebrate the nuclear weapons ban treaty

Hibakusha in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on July 8 applauded the international treaty banning nuclear weapons and gathered to celebrate the approval of the treaty at the UN Conference.

In Hiroshima, more than 100 people, including A-bomb survivors, got together in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome after the news made headlines across Japan. This event was hosted by the organizing committee consisting of 23 civil groups, including two Hibakusha organizations.

Standing behind a banner that reads, “The A-bombed city of Hiroshima embraces the adoption of the nuclear weapons ban treaty”, the participants’ faces beaming with joy held up white paper cranes. A statement adopted in the gathering states that a historic day has come which will bring about hope for the peaceful continued existence of humanity.

Organizing committee Secretary General Moritaki Haruko said that the treaty is a fruit of the wisdom of humankind and that as the only A-bombed nation, the Japanese government should immediately sign and ratify the legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear arms in order to regain the trust of the international community.

In Nagasaki, 150 citizens, including Hibakusha, took part in a similar gathering organized by a civil group working to promote the international signature-collection drive in support of Hibakusha’s appeal for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

At the gathering, a video message sent from chairman of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors Council Taniguchi Sumiteru, who is presently hospitalized, was introduced.

Taniguchi in the video said that he was delighted with the outcome of the latest antinuke UN Conference, and expressed his hope that non-nuclear weapons states will push nuclear weapons states to join the move toward a world without nuclear weapons as early as possible.

Kakita Fumie, secretary general of the Hibakusha-led signature campaign promotion group, reported that the number of Hibakusha signatures collected so far in the prefecture has reached 63,594. Pointing out that the role of the signature-collection drive has become much more important, Kakita proposed to collect 100,000 signatures by autumn when the annual UN General Assembly session is scheduled to open. She also called on the participants to keep raising their voices to press the Japanese government to take the N-ban treaty seriously.

Past related articles:
> Over 2.9 million ‘Hibakusha’ Appeal signatures submitted to UN [June 18, 2017]
> Hibakusha protest against Japan’s boycott of UN talks on N-ban treaty [March 29, 2017]