Japan Press Weekly

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2011 August 3 - 16 [ANTI-N-ARMS]

2011 World Conference against A&H Bombs in Nagasaki

Opening plenary

On August 7 at the opening plenary of the World Conference against A & H Bombs-Nagasaki held in Nagasaki City, 7,800 participants, including delegates from overseas and across Japan, expressed their determination to submit to the U.N. General Assembly in autumn signatures collected from citizens demanding the start of negotiations for an international convention banning nuclear weapons.

Attending the conference on behalf of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Sergio de Queiroz Duarte, U.N. High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, in his speech said that nuclear weapons serve to deepen mistrust among nations which leads to proliferation. He encouraged participants by saying, “All of you here today are doing exactly what you should be doing. In these various ways, you are making your voices heard in your society and throughout the world.”

Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) Representative Director Taka Hiroshi announced that in preparation for the World Conference, people had collected 548,244 signatures in support of an international signature drive calling on all states to start negotiations for a nuclear weapons ban treaty.

He handed over to Duarte a written request to the United Nations to accept the signatures collected from the Japanese people.

As guest speakers, Nagasaki City Mayor Taue Tomihisa and Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo delivered speeches. (For Shii speech, see separate item.)

Government representatives of Egypt, Mexico, and Venezuela as well as overseas delegates from the U.S., Germany, South Korea, Guam, and Britain gave remarks.

Closing plenary

About 7,800 participants from Japan and abroad, at the closing plenary of the 2011 World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs in Nagasaki City on August 9, confirmed their commitment to a united effort to work for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the withdrawal from nuclear power generation.

This year, more than half the participants were youth. The conference adopted a resolution, “Appeal from Nagasaki”, calling for solidarity in the international signature-collection drive, “Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons”, together with the movement call to urge the Japanese government to break away from nuclear power generation.

At 11:02a.m., the exact moment of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, all the participants offered one minute of silent rememberance to the victims.

A large delegation from Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaraki prefectures appeared on the stage to express their determination to restore communities and help reconstruct from the 3.11 disaster as well as to embark on actions to demand that the government compensate all the nuclear accident evacuees.

Delegates from the U.S., Russia, Tahiti, the International Peace Bureau, and the Philippines spoke on stage of the reality of radiation contamination caused by nuclear tests and facilities.

Mohamed Ezzeldine Abdel-Moneim, special advisor of the Arab League, applauded the Japanese peace movements as a foundation of the world peace movement.