Two years ago today the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) came into effect. 92 countries have so far signed the Treaty and 68 have ratified it. In February, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and has threatened to use nuclear weapons. We are faced with the crisis of a nuclear war. The hibakusha and citizens of Hiroshima appeal that such weapons must never be used. Nuclear warfare has neither winners nor losers and inevitably leads to the destruction of the earth. We demand the war which continues to kill so many innocent people be stopped and ended urgently. 77 years ago, Hiroshima was annihilated by the American nuclear attack. The victims included not just Japanese people. People from the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan, both under Japan’s colonial rule, Chinese laborers made to come to Japan by force, American POWs, and Southeast Asians and Chinese people invited to study in Japan by the national policy were also indiscriminately killed when they were exposed to the atomic bomb. Not only the direct power of the bomb (heat rays, blast and initial radiation), but also residual radiation caused people to develop illnesses after they entered the city later. Radioactive fallout even reached areas farther than 30 kilometers. After the war ended, it was estimated that about 140,000 people of Hiroshima lost their lives by the atomic bombing before the end of the year 1945. Many survivors have died of leukemia or cancer. Nagasaki was also bombed by a nuclear weapon and experienced a similar situation. The first meeting of the States Parties was held in July last year and the Vienna Declaration was adopted. Problems to be solved include how the Treaty should be made universal and how global nuclear survivors should be aided. We hope that the second meeting to be held in November this year deepens debates on these matters. Last August, the NPT Review conference met but there was no forward movement and no documents were adopted, even though the previous meetings in 2000 and 2010 had confirmed that Article 6 of the Treaty declairing the States Parties have the duty of complete nuclear disarmament (=prohibition of nuclear weapons). This is an extremely regrettable situation. It is not forgivable that nuclear states should turn their backs on signing and ratifying the Treaty, which complements the NPT. We protest against nuclear powers postponing abolition of nuclear weapons for security reasons. The Japanese Government should sign and ratify the Treaty as soon as possible. We will try to realize the nuclear-free world working in cooperation with global nuclear survivors.
January 22nd, 2023 Shuichi Adachi President of the Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (HANWA)
※この英文は「核兵器禁止条約発効２年にあたっての声明」英訳です。
Posted in 声明, 未分類 | Statement to Commemorate the Second Anniversary of the TPNW はコメントを受け付けていません
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)
