Japan Press Weekly

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2023 November 22 - 28 [PEACE]

JCP will participate in 2nd TPNW meeting together with Hibakusha and civil society representatives

Japanese Communist Party parliamentarian Kasai Akira will participate in the 2nd Meeting of States Parties to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), slated to be held at the UN Headquarters in NYC between November 27 and December 1, together with Japan’s civil society groups, including the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), the Japan Council Against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo), and the New Japan Women's Association (NJWA or Shinfujin).

On the other hand, the Japanese government will yet again not attend the TPNW meeting.

Hidankyo Secretary General Kido Sueichi will speak on the first day of the 4-day meeting. Gensuikyo will send 32 delegates, including Secretary General Yasui Masakazu, and appeal for the need to promote the TPNW by such means as urging nuclear-weapon states and countries under so-called nuclear umbrellas to adopt the treaty.

JCP Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji on November 22 at a press conference in the Diet building announced the JCP decision to delegate Kasai as JCP representative to the 2nd TPNW meeting.

Kokuta explained that Kasai during his visit will meet with the chairperson of the TPNW 2nd Meeting of State Parties, make a petition to the world’s governments in collaboration with Hidankyo and Gensuikyo, and take part in side events such as the parliamentarians’ conference.

Kokuta said that as a political party in Japan, the only A-bombed nation in the world, the JCP welcomes the 2nd TPNW meeting. Noting that this year marked the 3rd anniversary of the entry into force of the TPNW, Kokuda said that with the use of the treaty’s normative power, the JCP will work to promote efforts to crystalize the “Vienna Declaration” and the “Action Plan” which includes support for victims created by the use and testing of nuclear weapons. These two documents were adopted at the first meeting.