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2015 December 16 - 22 [PEACE]

Take effective measures to eliminate nuclear weapons

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The 70th session of the UN General Assembly adopted resolutions on December 7 calling for a ban on nuclear weapons. During the session, the assembly also passed other resolutions demanding nuclear disarmament. However, nuclear powers are strongly opposing the global call for a nuclear-weapons-free world.

One of the focal points is whether to legally ban nuclear arms. At the UNGA, a resolution titled “Humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons”, which pushes for the ban on and abolition of nuclear arms as inhuman weapons, was adopted for the first time. The move denouncing the inhumanity of atomic weapons originated from a joint statement issued by 16 nations in 2012. At the 2015 NPT Review Conference in New York, 159 countries, or more than 80% of the UN member nations, supported a similar anti-nuke statement. This move has developed into a global trend, putting pressure on nuclear powers.

The UNGA also carried the following resolutions by the overwhelming majority of states: “Humanitarian pledge for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons”, the resolution promoted by Austria calling for legislative measures towards creating a world without nuclear arms; “Taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations”, which seeks to set up “a task force” to discuss such legal measures; and “Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear Weapons”, which calls on the international community to begin negotiations on the convention without delay.

Nuclear-weapon states are raising the strongest objections ever to this trend. The five powers - Britain, China, France, Russia, and the U.S. - released a joint statement saying that “an incremental, step-by-step approach is the only practical option for making progress towards nuclear disarmament.”

In discussions at the general assembly, it was pointed out that a new nuclear threat is emerging as terrorism and regional conflicts are spreading across the world. It is now called into question whether the global society can overcome once and for all the outdated nuclear deterrence theory and implement effective measures to remove the threat of a global nuclear catastrophe.

Being closely aligned with several nuclear powers, the Japanese government abstained from voting on the above resolutions. The Abe administration had insisted that it would act as “an intermediary” between nuclear states and nonnuclear nations at the international meeting, but it did nothing of the kind. As the only A-bombed country in the world, Japan should join in the global efforts to push nuclear states to abandon their atomic weapons.

Past related article:
> Nobel prize-winning chemist calls for world free from nuclear weapons in scientists’ intetnational conference [November 5, 2015]