April 18, 2021

The Asia Europe People's Forum (AEPF) held an online meeting on April 16 with more than 100 people from 15 countries participating, discussing ways to urge nuclear-weapons states and their allies to sign and ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Thomas Hajnoczi, the Austrian ambassador to the UN, gave the keynote address. He said that support for the treaty continues to grow and that the tenacious efforts by global civil society will bring about success in establishing a nuclear-free world. He said that the treaty offers the opportunity for the world to be free from nuclear weapons, and is not just wishful thinking but the only realistic option for the survival of the human species.

Tsuchida Yayoi, vice secretary general of the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo), said that her organization is demanding the government of Japan, as the only A-bombed country in the world, to take a lead in promoting the abolition of nuclear weapons. She reported that peace activists in Japan have been collecting signatures calling for Japan's participation in the UN accord and pressing local municipal assemblies to adopt an antinuclear resolution. She expressed her determination for Japan Gensuikyo to continue to play a key role by increasing public awareness and popular movements supporting the treaty in Japan.

Kim Jinyoung of the People’s Solidarity for Social Progress from South Korea stressed the need to further increase public efforts to help denuclearize Northeast Asia amid deadlocked talks between Seoul and Pyongyang as well as to work to oppose the ongoing confrontation between China and the United States.

Achin Vanaik, India's Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), reported on Indo-Pakistani conflicts and on the anti-nuclear weapons movement in Bangladesh, the only country in South Asia which ratified the UN treaty.

Belgian peace activist Ludo De Brabander of the "No to NATO" and Co-President of the International Peace Bureau (IPB) Lisa Clark from Italy said that under the situation where the U.S. deploys nuclear weapons globally, more than 70% of Belgians and Italians are in favor of their governments joining and ratifying the treaty. She said that many people in the two countries are working to encourage local municipalities to press their national governments to join the TPNW.

Past related articles:
> Online Bikini Day rally calls for using UN N-ban treaty as leverage to achieve a world without nuclear weapons [March 1, 2021]
> 2020 antinuke World Conference Hiroshima Day Rally calls for early entry into force of UN nuclear weapons ban treaty [August 7, 2020]