Japan Press Weekly

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2020 June 24 - 30 TOP3 [PEACE]

Nearly 12 million signatures collected in support of Hibakusha’s appeal for elimination of nuclear weapons

A liaison council promoting the international signature-collection campaign in support of the Hibakusha’s appeal for the elimination of nuclear weapons on June 24 announced that with more than 1.32 million signatures added, the total number of signatures reached 11.84 million.

The additional signatures were collected between September 2019 and March 2020.

The collected signatures were to be delivered to the NPT Review Conference originally scheduled for April in New York City but the conference was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The liaison council has set the deadline for collecting signatures on September 18. It plans to submit signatures gathered by the deadline to the UN General Assembly slated for early October.

Tanaka Terumi, representative director of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) initiating the international signature drive, pointed out that the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons will enter into force in the not-so-distant future. Tanaka said, “I hope that the number of antinuke signatures collected through grassroots movements will encourage efforts made by countries seeking a world without nuclear weapons. It is necessary to reinforce the global call for the abolition of nuclear weapons in collaboration with public movements demanding that taxpayers’ money be used for the fight against COVID-19 and medical and welfare services, not for atomic weapons.”

The antinuke UN treaty, which was adopted at a UN conference on July 7, 2017, will go into force when it is ratified by 50 UN member states. So far, it has obtained ratifications from 38 countries.

Past related article:
> Number of ‘Hibakusha Appeal’ signatures sent to UN exceeds 8.3 million [October 12, 2018]
> International antinuke meeting declares promotion of signature-collection drive leading to NWC [August 3-5, 2016]