Record-high 156 countries support NPT Review Conference statement on inhumanity of nuclear weapons
May 8, 2015
by Michiko Tanaka, Staff Writer
NEW YORK--On April 26, it was reported that the governments of 156 countries would issue a joint statement proclaiming the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons at the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), which opens on April 27 at United Nations headquarters in New York. This will be the sixth such statement on nuclear weapons, which looks to be approved by a record-high number of countries. The purpose of the joint statement is to make the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, an idea that has intensified over the past five years since the previous NPT Review Conference, a foundation for discussion.
Sebastian Kurz, Austria’s Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, is scheduled to make an address on behalf of the supporting countries in a general debate session on the second day of the conference. The number of supporters, currently 156, may rise or fall.
Since May 2012, when a similar statement was announced by 16 countries in the first session of the preparatory committee for the 2015 NPT Review Conference, the statement has been discussed numerous times in the U.N. General Assembly and in other meetings. As the statement includes text that advocates outlawing nuclear weapons, Japan, which depends on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for its national security, took a negative stance toward that initial statement. However, Japan endorsed the statement that emerged in the fourth preparatory committee session in October 2013.
At the NPT Review Conference, government representatives from more than 100 nations will address the gathering for four days from April 27. On the first day of the conference, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, elected from district one in Hiroshima, will make an appeal to the world from the only A-bombed nation. He will share Japan’s stance, which includes strengthening education involving arms reduction. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will also address the conference. Due to deteriorating bilateral relations between the two nuclear powers, their remarks will be closely followed.
Meanwhile, the “International Peace and Planet Conference” was held by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at a local university prior to the NPT Review Conference. On April 25, the last day of the conference, some 600 people participated in 44 subcommittee meetings to deepen discussion on the elimination of nuclear weapons. In a meeting of the world’s radiation sufferers, Toshiki Fujimori, 71, an atomic bomb survivor of Hiroshima and a resident of Chino, Nagano Prefecture, and a victim of nuclear tests from the Marshall Islands talked about their experiences. In a discussion over the roles that should be played by the international community to advance the abolition of nuclear arms, Yasuyoshi Komizo, the chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, introduced the efforts of Mayors for Peace and called on the participants to work together toward this goal.
At the closing ceremony, the participants expressed a spirit of “Today is the starting point for boosting international action toward a nuclear-free world,” then concluded the two-day conference.
(Originally published on April 27, 2015)
NEW YORK--On April 26, it was reported that the governments of 156 countries would issue a joint statement proclaiming the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons at the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), which opens on April 27 at United Nations headquarters in New York. This will be the sixth such statement on nuclear weapons, which looks to be approved by a record-high number of countries. The purpose of the joint statement is to make the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, an idea that has intensified over the past five years since the previous NPT Review Conference, a foundation for discussion.
Sebastian Kurz, Austria’s Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs, is scheduled to make an address on behalf of the supporting countries in a general debate session on the second day of the conference. The number of supporters, currently 156, may rise or fall.
Since May 2012, when a similar statement was announced by 16 countries in the first session of the preparatory committee for the 2015 NPT Review Conference, the statement has been discussed numerous times in the U.N. General Assembly and in other meetings. As the statement includes text that advocates outlawing nuclear weapons, Japan, which depends on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for its national security, took a negative stance toward that initial statement. However, Japan endorsed the statement that emerged in the fourth preparatory committee session in October 2013.
At the NPT Review Conference, government representatives from more than 100 nations will address the gathering for four days from April 27. On the first day of the conference, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, elected from district one in Hiroshima, will make an appeal to the world from the only A-bombed nation. He will share Japan’s stance, which includes strengthening education involving arms reduction. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will also address the conference. Due to deteriorating bilateral relations between the two nuclear powers, their remarks will be closely followed.
Meanwhile, the “International Peace and Planet Conference” was held by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at a local university prior to the NPT Review Conference. On April 25, the last day of the conference, some 600 people participated in 44 subcommittee meetings to deepen discussion on the elimination of nuclear weapons. In a meeting of the world’s radiation sufferers, Toshiki Fujimori, 71, an atomic bomb survivor of Hiroshima and a resident of Chino, Nagano Prefecture, and a victim of nuclear tests from the Marshall Islands talked about their experiences. In a discussion over the roles that should be played by the international community to advance the abolition of nuclear arms, Yasuyoshi Komizo, the chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, introduced the efforts of Mayors for Peace and called on the participants to work together toward this goal.
At the closing ceremony, the participants expressed a spirit of “Today is the starting point for boosting international action toward a nuclear-free world,” then concluded the two-day conference.
(Originally published on April 27, 2015)
