Japan Press Weekly

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2015 May 20 - 26 [PEACE]

Gensuikyo representative director issues statement on result of NPT RevCon

Regarding the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference that closed with no final document, Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) representative director Taka Hiroshi issued a statement.

The NPT Review Conference which started on April 27 at the UN Headquarters on May 22 ended without adopting a final document proposed by the NPT RevCon President (Algerian Taous Feroukhi) due to opposition from the U.S., Britain, and Canada. The final outcome document of the Conference must be adopted unanimously in principle.

Taka Hiroshi in his statement pointed out that the call for a total ban and elimination of nuclear weapons has intensified over the past five years and that an idea of a Nuclear Weapons Convention was echoed in the summary of discussions in the NPT Review Conference Main Committee I which negotiates nuclear disarmament. He said that this mirrors the world trend of pointing to the inhumanity of the use of nuclear weapons and seeking a world without nuclear weapons.

Taka stressed that Gensuikyo has encouraged global anti-nuclear weapons movements and played a role in having voices of civil society heard through various activities, including the international signature campaign for the “Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons” and the dispatch of a delegation of 1,000 grassroots-activists to NYC.

He said that to realize a world free from nuclear weapons is vitally important for humankind and will always become a focus of international politics, and that public opinion and civil society’s efforts should play a major role, particularly in nuclear-weapons states and in countries under a nuclear umbrella.

Noting that the 2015 World Conference against A and H Bombs scheduled for August marking the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will greatly attract attention from the international community, Taka expressed his determination to achieve success in the event.


Past related articles:
> 1,000 Japanese march in NYC, calling for end to nuclear arms [May 10, 2015]
> Gensuikyo determines to strengthen signature-collection campaign in advance of NPT Review Conference [February 10, 2015]