Public call must further increase a world without nuclear weapons

Japan Press Weekly

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Public call must further increase a world without nuclear weapons

Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) Secretary General Taka Hiroshi made the following comment on the UN Security Council resolution calling for a world without nuclear weapons adopted on September 24:

The UN Security Council resolution "to create the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons" has marked another milestone toward the total elimination of nuclear weapons. The move came shortly after the 2009 World Conference against A and H Bombs, in which we emphasized the need for the UN General Assembly and Security Council to play an active role in advance of the NPT Review Conference to be held next spring and sent a letter to President Obama urging him to resolve to show leadership on this matter.

The resolution calls for negotiations aimed at establishing effective measures for nuclear arms reduction and disarmament and concluding a treaty on general and complete disarmament. Given the fact that the failure of the nuclear weapons states to implement Article 6 of the NPT has been a cause of proliferation, we welcome the resolution's call for its implementation. The global current today, however, makes it essential to get nuclear weapons abolished as a priority task by separating the issue of nuclear weapons from other types of weapons. As we prepare for the next NPT Review Conference, we will work to further increase the call for concrete steps to be taken to achieve this goal.

We also welcome Prime Minister Hatoyama's statement making clear that Japan, the only country to have suffered atomic bombs attack, has chosen a path without nuclear weapons and that the country will take a lead in making the effort to abolish nuclear weapons while firmly defending the "Three Non-nuclear Principles". These are the points Japan Gensuikyo requested in a letter to him via the Foreign Ministry the day after he took office.

While we recognize that the proliferation of nuclear weapons is dangerous, nuclear weapons cannot be abolished unless those who actually possess them decide to eliminate them. Japan, as the only country that suffered the calamities caused by the use of nuclear weapons in war, has both the right and obligation to speak up. We will exercise it in international politics as well as in the movement of civil society.

- Akahata, September 27, 2009