Japan Press Weekly

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2023 August 2 - 8 [PEACE]

No-nuke world conference in Nagasaki calls for solidarity to eliminate nukes

The opening plenary of the 2023 World Conference against A and H Bombs - Nagasaki took place in Nagasaki City on August 7, calling for global solidarity and for making the best use of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in order to eliminate all nuclear weapons.

Tomita Koji, who chaired the drafting committee for the International Meeting (Aug.4 and Aug. 5 in Hiroshima) declaration, in his keynote address said that the challenge to abolish and dismantle nuclear weapons is a life-and-death issue for the human race, emphasizing the need to further increase the global movement to press governments to sign and ratify the TPNW.

Tanaka Shigemitsu, who had been exposed to radiation at the age of four in Nagasaki, spoke about his A-bomb experience. He said, "A nuclear war will destroy mankind. The only way to save the human species from destruction is with the abolition of nuclear weapons."

Alexander Kmentt, director of the Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Department of the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, pointed out the danger of the "nuclear deterrence" logic, and said that the TPNW is a significant and constructive international law and is indeed an investment in a universally-common security.

Saul Zambrano, Charge d'Affaires ad interim of the Mexican Embassy in Japan, said that Mexico will preside over the second meeting of State Parties to the TPNW in November, and stressed the need to urge as many countries as possible to sign and ratify the treaty in order to ensure the universality of the N-ban treaty.

Nagasaki City Mayor Suzuki Shiro gave a warm greeting to participants, and Tsuchida Yayoi of the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) gave a special report on the preparatory committee for the NPT Review Conference which had recently taken place in Vienna.