Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (HANWA) We Heartily Welcome the First Conference of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
We, the Citizens of Hiroshima, welcome with all our heart, The First Meeting of States Parties to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) to take place in Vienna, Austria, from 21st to 23rd June, 2022. So far sixty-two nations have ratified the Treaty. Seventy-seven years ago, Hiroshima was annihilated by the nuclear attack by the armed forces of the United States of America. Not only Japanese people were bombed, but those from the Korean peninsula and Taiwan, Chinese people forcibly made to work in Hiroshima, American POWs in Hiroshima, and students who had come here from Southeast Asia to study in line with the state’s policy, were all exposed to the bomb and killed. In addition, many people who entered the city were affected by residual radiation. Exposure to radiation even extended to areas more than 30 kilometers away from the hypocenter, when black rain fell on people. Approximately 140,000 people of Hiroshima are estimated to have lost their lives by the end of the year 1945. Deaths from leukaemia and cancer have since continued. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted at the UN conference on 22nd July, 2017, then came into effect on 22nd January, 2021. This is not just the result of what hibakushas in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have tried to testify to the world. Facts of the damage suffered by nuclear victims in the world (mining, refinement, processing, and experiment) are now known to people worldwide. International law prohibits a series of activities related to nuclear weapons. This is a big step toward the abolition of nuclear weapons. We oppose countries which possess nuclear weapons postponing abolition of them and demand the Government of Japan sign and ratify the Treaty immediately. We wish to cooperate with all the nuclear victims in the world so that a world free from nuclear weapons will be realized. We strongly hope the parties have a productive discussion.
Statement to Commemorate the 1st Anniversary of the TPNW
Today marks the first anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) coming into force. As of today, 86 countries have signed it, with 59 having ratified it. 76 years ago, the city of Hiroshima was annihilated by the US Military attack. Casualties were not only Japanese, but there were many people from abroad exposed to radiation and were killed: those from the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan, both colonized by Japan, Chinese forced to work in Japan, American POWs, and Southeast Asians studying in Japan due to Japan’s policy. Direct exposure to radiation was caused when the bomb was detonated, but even after that, residual radiation affected people who entered the city after the bombing. Radioactive fallout reached those caught in Black Rain more than 30 kilometers from the hypocenter. Estimated fatalities at the end of the year 1945 numbered approximately 140 thousand, followed by deaths from leukemia and cancers until the present day. Nagasaki was bombed three days later and suffered similar damage. In March 1954, a Japanese tuna fishing boat (Lucky Dragon No. 5) was exposed to radiation emitted from a hydrogen bomb test (1,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima Bomb) at Bikini Atoll approx. 160km from the atoll. This incident triggered the movement in Japan against A- and H-bombs by hibakusha who rose up saying, “We know through experience that we must save humans from this crisis.” One result of the movement was medical care to Hiroshima and Nagasaki hibakusha started twelve years after the bombing. In July 2017, the TPNW was adopted at the United Nations conference and was enacted on January 22nd, 2021. Nuclear weapons are now illegal by international law. This helped people around the world understand the inhumane consequences of nuclear weapons suffered by A-bomb hibakusha and nuclear victims throughout the world as well. However, the five nuclear powers delivered a joint statement on January 3rd this year that a nuclear war cannot be won, without any mention of when and how to reduce more than the current 13,000 nuclear weapons, and when and how they will perform and complete their duty of nuclear disarmament (Article VI of the NPT). Since there has been a definite agreement among the member states to conclude the duty in previous Review Conferences, the TPNW is ‘an important treaty that could be regarded as a final passage to a world without nuclear weapons’ (Prime Minister Kishida), and as such, the nuclear weapon states cannot be excused from their duty to sign and ratify the Treaty. We oppose the nuclear weapon states delaying the abolition of such weapons. We demand that the Government of Japan sign and ratify the Treaty immediately. We must also make a joint effort with global hibakusha who wish to see a world without nuclear weapons.
January 22, 2022 Shuichi Adachi President Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (HANWA)
