October 1, 2025

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

On the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, September 26, a high-level meeting was held at the UN headquarters in NYC.

At the high-level meeting, nuclear weapons-possessing states came under fire for their nuclear buildup policies.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized the need to take action swiftly toward nuclear disarmament, and called for “courage, conviction and concrete action”. Tanaka Satoshi of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) attended the meeting and delivered a speech in which he warned that “humanity stands on the brink of extinction,” urging the leaders of nuclear weapon-states to engage in dialogue with A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha).

The nuclear weapons abolition day was established in 2013 by the UN General Assembly to “enhance public awareness and education” about the threat posed to humanity and the planet by the very existence of nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination.

With Hidankyo’s winning of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, Hibakusha have been increasingly under the spotlight. It is high time to drastically raise global public awareness regarding the threat of nuclear weapons and their inhumane nature, which is more urgent than ever.

At the UN high-level meeting, a representative of the Japanese government said that the country is working hard to promote understanding of the reality of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, he said nothing in regard to the abolition of nuclear weapons and the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. If the Japanese government, as government of the only A-bombed nation, highlights its efforts to disseminate information regarding the devastating consequences of the atomic bombings 80 years ago, it should strongly call for immediate action toward the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The Japanese Communist Party, together with Hibakusha, will make its utmost efforts to push Japan to depart from adherence to the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” policy and join the TPNW without delay.