Gensuikyo to send 1,000-member delegation to NPT conference Meetings, events to be held before and after conference
Mar. 2, 2015
by Jumpei Fujimura, Staff Writer
The Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Gensuikyo) has announced that it will send a delegation of about 1,000 people to the review conference for the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) to be held April 26 and 27 in New York. Gensuikyo will hold meetings and other events at a nearby venue both before and after the conference in an effort to build momentum for the start of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention.
The delegation will gather in front of United Nations headquarters, the site of the NPT review conference, the day before it opens. They will bring stacks of petitions they have gathered since 2011 in support of the start of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention and will call for a ban on nuclear weapons. About 5.2 million signatures have been collected so far.
An international symposium will be held in New York on April 27. The following day the group will urge representatives of the governments of various nations to work toward the abolition of nuclear weapons and will take to the streets to conduct a petition drive.
On April 24 and 25, the delegation will hold an international conference in collaboration with the representatives of about 50 non-governmental organizations. Nagasaki resident Sumiteru Taniguchi, 86, co-chair of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo), and Toronto resident Setsuko Thurlow, 83, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, have been invited to attend. Hidankyo was nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize by an anti-nuclear pacifist organization. Participants in the conference will undertake joint efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons.
At a press conference in Tokyo, Masakazu Yasui, secretary general of Gensuikyo, said, “We want to apply pressure from private citizens to get negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention started as soon as possible.”
(Originally published on February 27, 2015)
The Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Gensuikyo) has announced that it will send a delegation of about 1,000 people to the review conference for the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) to be held April 26 and 27 in New York. Gensuikyo will hold meetings and other events at a nearby venue both before and after the conference in an effort to build momentum for the start of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention.
The delegation will gather in front of United Nations headquarters, the site of the NPT review conference, the day before it opens. They will bring stacks of petitions they have gathered since 2011 in support of the start of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention and will call for a ban on nuclear weapons. About 5.2 million signatures have been collected so far.
An international symposium will be held in New York on April 27. The following day the group will urge representatives of the governments of various nations to work toward the abolition of nuclear weapons and will take to the streets to conduct a petition drive.
On April 24 and 25, the delegation will hold an international conference in collaboration with the representatives of about 50 non-governmental organizations. Nagasaki resident Sumiteru Taniguchi, 86, co-chair of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo), and Toronto resident Setsuko Thurlow, 83, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, have been invited to attend. Hidankyo was nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize by an anti-nuclear pacifist organization. Participants in the conference will undertake joint efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons.
At a press conference in Tokyo, Masakazu Yasui, secretary general of Gensuikyo, said, “We want to apply pressure from private citizens to get negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention started as soon as possible.”
(Originally published on February 27, 2015)
