 Japan Gensuikyo issues statement on the 7th NPT Review Conference The Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) on April 22 published the following statement on the occasion of the 7th NPT Review Conference which will open in New York on May 2. The 7th Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty will take place in the 60th year since the A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the last review conference in April-May 2000, the concluding year of the 20th century, all parties, including the nuclear weapons states, agreed on the "unequivocal undertaking" of the nuclear weapons states to "accomplish the total elimination" of their "nuclear arsenals". Now that there are many moves contradictory to this agreement, people around the world are taking action towards the Review Conference in pursuit of the elimination of the threat of nuclear weapons. The anti-nuclear and peace movements around the world are developing signature drives, rallies, marches and many other forms of actions for one common objective of the "Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, Now". Large numbers of local governments, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are urging the start of negotiations for a treaty for the elimination of nuclear weapons. The overwhelming majority of the governments, such as the states parties to the nuclear weapons-free zones, in cooperation with NGOs, are endeavoring to ensure that the Review Conference will bear a fruitful outcome. Two atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki completely destroyed the two cities in an instant and caused indescribable damage. Of the total of about 210,000 people who died by the end of 1945, more than 70% were women, children and senior citizens. The lingering effects of the bombs continued to claim the lives of many of those who narrowly survived the moment. Even now, 60 years after the suffering, still nearly 300,000 Hibakusha, the surviving victims, have difficulties with their health and living. Yet they continue their appeal that there should not be any more Hibakusha on earth. The only absolute guarantee that this tragedy is not repeated is to completely eliminate nuclear weapons. The Japanese movement for a ban on atomic and hydrogen bombs, together with the Hibakusha, has endeavored to make known to the world public the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to help develop the movements and public opinion for the prevention of nuclear war and the elimination of nuclear weapons. Reaching these goals has developed into a common demand of NGOs, local and national governments, as well as the rest of the people around the world. It is a prime task for the 7th NPT Review Conference to turn the agreements reached by the previous Review Conference in 2000 into concrete action, take steps forward toward achieving a nuclear weapons-free world, without allowing a backlash, and thus ensure world peace and a more hopeful future of humankind. We urge all the governments of the world, and particularly of the nuclear weapons states, to make a courageous decision to help attain this objective, and present the following suggestions. 1. Compliance and Implementation of the Accepted Undertaking to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons We believe that the nuclear weapons states should keep their "undertaking" to "accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals", and that the conference should urge for the compliance and implementation of this accepted commitment. Nuclear weapons states leaders claim that since they have abided by their disarmament obligation, non-proliferation is the only problem to be taken up by the conference. The world, however, is still threatened by more than 30,000 nuclear warheads, many of which are actually deployed. The Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty, the so-called Moscow Treaty, has been signed in the intervening years. But, even if the treaty is fully implemented, still Russia and the United States will retain thousands of warheads. Besides, it allows them to re-deploy warheads whenever they find it necessary. Moreover, there is even a move among the nuclear weapons states to give a new role to nuclear weapons, using the danger of "terrorism" and "proliferation" as an excuse, in combining them with conventional weapons and developing "usable" nuclear weapons. The nuclear weapons that have threatened the human race and its civilization for 60 years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki are those that have actually been manufactured, deployed and kept ready for launching. Nuclear weapons states, while urging non-nuclear weapons states to comply with the obligations as non-nuclear parties, insist that their nuclear arsenals are justified, that their compliance with the agreed undertaking is not their obligation, and that they can even press for the agreement to be buried. This kind of position is not only unacceptable, but actually would undermine the existing international order based on law and international agreements. The nuclear weapons states should reaffirm their commitment to their "unequivocal undertaking" to completely eliminate their nuclear arsenals, and set about implementing it. 2. Immediate Start for Achieving a Treaty for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons To reach the goal agreed upon by the previous review conference, actual steps must be taken to establish a binding measure for the elimination of nuclear weapons. This means an international treaty totally banning nuclear weapons. At present, the overwhelming majority of the countries in the world constitute nuclear weapons-free zones, placing themselves under and abiding by the treaty obligation of not possessing nuclear weapons. The results of the voting on nuclear disarmament resolutions by the UN General Assembly are further evidence that only a handful of governments refuse to attain this objective. Even those countries on which nuclear weapons states throw doubts about proliferation have expressed their agreement to the elimination of nuclear weapons. The surest way to prevent nuclear proliferation is the total elimination of nuclear weapons. The conviction in this prospect was the basis on which the agreement on the elimination of nuclear weapons was reached at the 2000 Review Conference. An attempt, policy or action to try to "deter" proliferation by posing a threat with overwhelming power of nuclear weapons, and even to plan to use them whenever necessary, does not help to resolve the problem, as evidenced by the whole process of the war on Iraq launched on the basis of fabricated suspicions. On the contrary, it only generates confusion and spurs unlawful actions. The international community should prevent the emergence of a new nuclear weapon state under any circumstances whatsoever. However, if the nuclear weapons states take a decision for a total ban on nuclear weapons and actually initiate a process for it, apparently there will be no objection in any part of the world. The world will, then, be able to cope with any possible danger of proliferation far more effectively than it is doing now. The process leading to a treaty for a total ban on nuclear weapons should start without any further delay. 3. Plan for Developing New Nuclear Weapons and Using Them Must Be Abandoned All states, including those not party to the NPT, should abandon their policies and strategies relating to the use of nuclear weapons, and cancel any plan to study, develop or deploy new nuclear weapons. Any action of posing a threat to use nuclear weapons would undermine the international effort for both nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation. Also the effort for a nuclear weapon-free world requires Japan and other countries in alliance with nuclear weapons states to refuse to take part in any policy that would lead to the use of nuclear weapons, and walk out of the so-called "nuclear umbrella". Only by so doing, could they take a consistent policy for prevention of proliferation and the elimination of the danger of nuclear weapons. For 60 years since the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the global move for a total ban on nuclear weapons has kept, and is gathering momentum. The 7th Review Conference is expected to turn the agreements reached thus far into action, and thus make a decisive turn for the elimination of nuclear weapons. At the same time, in order for the task of eliminating all nuclear weapons to be carried out and the survival of humankind ensured, peopleﾕs movements must develop worldwide, their cooperation with governments widened, and extensive public support built up, in parallel with diplomatic efforts. Continued effort of NGOs, including our own movement representing the desire of the people of the only A-bombed country, is essential. (Akahata, April 23, 2005) |