Japan Press Weekly

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2024 July 24 - 30 [PEACE]

Antinuke NGO calls for overcoming fallacy of nuclear deterrence

Hibakusha and antinuke NGO representatives as well as the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on July 23 during a meeting of the Second Preparatory Committee for the 11th NPT Review Conference in Geneva demanded that nuclear-weapon states work toward the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Tsuchida Yayoi of the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) expressed hope that all parties at the next NPT Review Conference will reaffirm the agreements and commitments made so far as obligations to be addressed, including the UN Charter and the UNGA Resolution 1, and Article 6 of the NPT which calls for an “unequivocal undertaking” by nuclear-weapon states to totally eliminate their nuclear arsenals.

She demanded that leaders of the nuclear-weapon states and their nuclear allies stop threatening the use of nuclear weapons in any form and begin negotiations for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

She noted that the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted with the support of many countries while nuclear powers continue to confront each other and modernize their nuclear capabilities.

Tsuchida called on leaders of all countries to listen to the testimonies of A-bomb survivors and of victims of nuclear tests about the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, with the A-Bomb Day in Hiroshima and Nagasaki soon to arrive. She said that international politics must overcome the fallacy of “nuclear deterrence”.

Tsuchida stated, “What nuclear weapons bring to us is not safety, but war, death and destruction, and the fear of human extinction.”