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Hiroshima mayor shares hopes to hold U.N. disarmament conference in Hiroshima in 2015

by Michiko Tanaka, Staff Writer

The possibility now exists that in 2015, the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the United Nations Conference on Disarmament will be held here in the city. With this in mind, on September 27, administrators from the City of Hiroshima and A-bomb survivors expressed hopes and requests for the conference as they seek the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui has been pursuing international conferences for the city in line with his policy of “appeals for peace from home.” The mayor announced that the city has been discussing the idea of Hiroshima hosting the U.N. conference with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stressing, “My hope is that the participants would be mainly policy makers and that this would be a significant conference.”

At the U.N. Conference on Disarmament, researchers and experts attached to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), along with senior officials of various nations, gather to discuss nuclear disarmament issues. As the participants are attending the conference as individuals, not national representatives, the discussions reportedly proceed smoothly, in a less formal fashion. At the same time, with the number of participants from the nuclear weapon states now declining, it is said that the conference is paling in importance.

Toshiyuki Mimaki, secretary-general of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations, chaired by Sunao Tsuboi, commented, “If the conference is held in Hiroshima, it would be a shame if the discussions end up being constrained by formalities. I hope that leading figures in many nations will make decisions at the conference which promote the cause of nuclear disarmament.” 

Kazuo Okoshi, secretary-general of the other faction of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations, chaired by Kazushi Kaneko, made special note of the fact that the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), held every five years, will take place in the spring of 2015. Calling for the U.N. Conference on Disarmament to be held in Hiroshima prior to the NPT Review Conference, Mr. Okoshi stressed, “The NPT Review Conference will be an important meeting for creating a road map to realize a nuclear weapons convention. If the U.N. Conference on Disarmament is held in Hiroshima just prior to that, it would serve as a big boost for the review conference.”

(Originally published on September 28, 2013)

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