Japan Press Weekly

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2022 April 20 - 26 [PEACE]

Hibakusha and peace activists submit over 960K signatures calling for Japan's participation in UN N-ban treaty

Atomic bomb survivors (Hibakusha) and peace organizations on April 22 submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 960,538 signatures calling on Japan to sign and ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Hibakusha, initiators of the signature drive, and representatives of the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) held a rally in the Lower House lawmakers' office building on the sidelines of the submission of the signatures. Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Inoue Satoshi and JCP members of the House of Representatives Kasai Akira, Motomura Nobuko, and Miyamoto Toru took part in the rally along with other opposition party legislators.

JCP Inoue said, "The Japanese government should grant official recognition as Hibakusha to all victims who were exposed to A-bomb radiation, including internal exposure, and should sign and ratify the TPNW in order to appeal to the international community the inhumane consequences nuclear weapons bring about."

Tanaka Terumi, an initiator of the signature campaign and a representative director of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), together with two other Nihon Hidankyo representatives delivered speeches. They said, "We hope that Japan will at least attend the first conference of TPNW signatories in June as an observer, and that Japan as the only A-bombed country will make the world aware of the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons."

Taka Hiroshi, a representative director of the Japan Gensuikyo, pointed out that nuclear-weapons states are strengthening their nuclear-strike readiness and said, "We must not allow them to use nuclear weapons. The only option to stop them from using nuclear arms is the elimination of such weapons."