May 10, 2025

Akahata editorial

Three Nobel Peace Prize winning organizations have sent a letter calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons to U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The letter states, “They (nuclear weapons) were built by human hands, and they can be dismantled by human hands. All that’s required is political will.”

Political will required

The three Nobel laureates are the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). Ahead of the start of the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the NPT Review Conference (April 28 - May 9) at the UN Headquarters in New York, they sent the letter under their joint names.

The letter warns, “The current climate surrounding nuclear weapons is the most volatile in decades,” adding, “We are witnessing a resurgence of dangerous ideas which had supposedly been relegated to Cold War history books: radical new calls for nuclear proliferation and the extension of nuclear deterrence practices.” It calls on the two leaders to pursue a world without nuclear weapons by pointing out, “It is within your power, as Presidents of the most powerful nuclear countries in the world, to end nuclear weapons before they end us.”

Since Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, it has repeatedly made overt threats to use nuclear weapons. The United States maintains a nuclear posture based on nuclear deterrence. Among NATO countries, a call for the strengthening of nuclear deterrence and for nuclear sharing is growing.

For these reasons, to encourage nuclear-weapon states to agree on the prohibition of nuclear weapons is a pressing challenge for the international community in order to prevent nuclear weapons from being used.

At the Preparatory Committee session, South Africa spoke on behalf of the State Parties to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), Brazil on behalf of the New Agenda Coalition whose member states take joint action to abolish nuclear weapons, and Malaysia on behalf of ASEAN countries. They called on nuclear-armed countries to fulfill their obligations under the NPT for nuclear disarmament and take a significant first step to abolish nuclear weapons.

A representative of Nihon Hidankyo at the session stressed, “We, Hibakusha, desire to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons in our lifetime.”

Japanese government turns its back on Hibakusha’s demand

Japan’s Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi in his speech at the session said that voices calling for a world without nuclear weapons are louder and more urgent than ever, but indicated no concrete plans and actions toward achieving the prohibition of nuclear weapons.

The government of Japan, the only A-bombed nation in the world, has its back turned toward the demand for nuclear weapons abolition and sticks to the “nuclear deterrence” doctrine. It also promotes a national security policy seeking to “further strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-U.S. Alliance, including extended deterrence by the U.S.” In practical terms, it has repeatedly conducted joint military exercises with U.S. B-52 bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons are inhumane weapons. Considering that a single nuclear bomb detonation has a catastrophic outcome, the concept of nuclear deterrence is inappropriate as a national security policy.

A representative of the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Gensuikyo) at the session criticized the use of the deteriorating security environment as a pretext for the argument for “extended deterrence”, and demanded that the abolition of nuclear arms be achieved without delay.

The TPNW is demonstrating its power as international law by such means as effectively setting a high hurdle for Russia’s use of nuclear weapons. At the UN General Assembly last year, 127 member states voted for a resolution in support of the TPNW, showing a growing support for the treaty. The need is to add momentum to this trend with joint efforts made by civil society and governments worldwide advocating for the abolition of nuclear weapons.