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"Hiroshima Conference for the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons by 2020" adopts Hiroshima Appeal

by Yumi Kanazaki, Staff Writer

On July 29, the "Hiroshima Conference for the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons by 2020," an event co-sponsored by Mayors for Peace and the City of Hiroshima, adopted the "Hiroshima Appeal" and completed its two-day schedule. The "Hiroshima Appeal" includes a call to "convene a special disarmament conference in 2011 to facilitate the start of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention."

The conference brought together nearly 300 participants from 16 nations, including Japan, who serve in governments and with NGOs, for discussion. Their appeal contains ten calls to action.

Following the outcome of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference held this past May, the "Hiroshima Appeal" calls for the immediate start of negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention in order to realize the abolition of nuclear arms by 2020, while urging Japan to take "proactive measures," such as the holding of conferences in Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the leaders of the nuclear weapon states and international NGOs.

The appeal also calls on non-nuclear nations to make efforts for nuclear disarmament. The appeal demands that "governments that are party to nuclear sharing agreements or that hide under nuclear umbrellas reject nuclear weapons as part of their military and security doctrines, concepts, and policies."

At the closing ceremony held at the International Conference Center Hiroshima, Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said that the "Hiroshima Appeal" would have a significant impact on the leadership of nations and suggested that quick action be taken to disseminate the appeal. In the summary session prior to the ceremony, Jacqueline Cabasso, the North American Coordinator for Mayors for Peace, stressed such things as the importance of viewing security from the humanitarian imperative rather than from a military perspective.


Commentary: United for a nuclear weapons convention
by Yumi Kanazaki, Staff Writer

The "Hiroshima Conference for the “Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons by 2020," which closed on July 29, served as an opportunity for citizens and other parties of concern to unite behind seeking the start of negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention, a step which follows the realization of a reference to a nuclear weapons convention at the 2010 NPT Review Conference.

The "Hiroshima Appeal," which was adopted at the conference, upholds the goal of nuclear abolition by 2020, as advocated by Mayors for Peace, and clearly recognizes that the fulfillment of a nuclear weapons convention is a prerequisite for nuclear abolition.

For this goal, the immediate start of negotiations for the convention becomes an urgent task. The "Hiroshima Appeal" calls for holding a special nuclear disarmament conference in 2011 to discuss the abolition of nuclear weapons with an eye toward the NPT Preparatory Committee for the 2015 NPT Review Conference, which begins its work in 2012. The call for the conference in 2011 has been made from the consideration that if progress of a certain degree on a convention is not made at the 2015 NPT Review Conference, the great difficulty of achieving nuclear abolition by 2020 will become clear.

Those from such entities as the United Nations and NGOs, who had a significant impact on state representatives at the 2010 NPT Review Conference, took part in the Hiroshima conference. Meanwhile, among the member cities of Mayors for Peace, whose membership has topped 4,000, only 65 cities in Japan and four cities from overseas sent representatives to the conference. As Mayors for Peace was one of the organizers of the gathering, the number of member cities that took part seems regrettably small.

Participants from both Japan and abroad listened closely to the account of an A-bomb survivor and, looking squarely at the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, engaged in discussion. In this sense, the conference was uniquely a Hiroshima event.

To realize the special nuclear disarmament conference in 2011, measures to disseminate the outcome of this gathering should be quickly pursued.

(Originally published on July 30, 2010)

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"Hiroshima Conference for the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons by 2020" opens (July 29, 2010)
Participants in Hiroshima nuclear abolition conference visit Peace Memorial Park (July 28, 2010)

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