Pugwash Conference ends with scientists and nuclear states far apart on disarmament
Nov. 16, 2015
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer
The Pugwash Conference, which closed on November 5 in the city of Nagasaki, looked squarely at the inhumane effects of nuclear weapons and pursued discussions designed to advance the international movement to abolish nuclear arms. Seventy years ago Nagasaki was devastated by an atomic bomb. Although the conference sought to address conflicts over nuclear issues through diplomatic measures based on “dialogue across divides,” which is the spirit of the Pugwash Conferences, scientists calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and high-ranking government officials from nuclear weapon states could not find common ground.
In the plenary session on the opening day of the conference, U.S. and Russian arms reduction officials addressed the session and stressed the need for nuclear deterrence and a step-by-step approach toward disarmament under the current conditions. Rebutting arguments by scientists seeking a nuclear weapons convention based on the inhumanity of nuclear arms, calling this idea unrealistic, both nuclear superpowers clung to this position.
Hiromichi Umebayashi, a conference participant and the former director of Nagasaki University’s Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, said that, in light of the growing international call for greater attention on the inhumane nature of nuclear arms, the nuclear weapon states, including the United States and Russia, will be much more likely to oppose discussions for creating a legal mechanism to eliminate nuclear weapons. Mr. Umebayashi believes it is important to create opportunities for new multilateral discussions that can lead to a legal ban on nuclear arms. The language of “legally banning nuclear weapons” was included in the Nagasaki Declaration.
Meanwhile, scientists from Japan, the only nation to have experienced nuclear attack, were increasingly viewed with stern expressions by the other participants. This could be attributed to the Japanese government’s decision to abstain from adopting a resolution which calls for creating a legal framework for banning nuclear weapons at the First Committee (on Disarmament and International Security) of the United Nations General Assembly, which was meeting at the same time as the Pugwash Conference.
Tatsujiro Suzuki, the chair of the organizing committee for the conference in Nagasaki, said that one of the differences from the Pugwash Conference held in Hiroshima in 2005 is the rising awareness that progress toward nuclear abolition cannot be made until those nations which rely on the nuclear umbrella change their security policies. This is why the Nagasaki Declaration is the first Pugwash declaration to include a statement which calls on non-nuclear weapon states to move away from security policies which depend on the nuclear umbrella. The response of the Japanese government to this statement will be closely watched.
The conference participants hope that the meeting of foreign ministers to be held in Hiroshima next April prior to the 2016 summit meeting (Ise-Shima Summit) will provide an opportunity to increase awareness of the inhumanity of nuclear arms. “Remember your humanity, and forget the rest.” The A-bombed cities shoulder an important responsibility for “dialogue across the political divide,” an appeal from the Russell-Einstein Manifesto of 1955, which called upon scientists from around the world to assemble to discuss the threat posed by nuclear weapons.
(Originally published on November 6, 2015)
The Pugwash Conference, which closed on November 5 in the city of Nagasaki, looked squarely at the inhumane effects of nuclear weapons and pursued discussions designed to advance the international movement to abolish nuclear arms. Seventy years ago Nagasaki was devastated by an atomic bomb. Although the conference sought to address conflicts over nuclear issues through diplomatic measures based on “dialogue across divides,” which is the spirit of the Pugwash Conferences, scientists calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons and high-ranking government officials from nuclear weapon states could not find common ground.
In the plenary session on the opening day of the conference, U.S. and Russian arms reduction officials addressed the session and stressed the need for nuclear deterrence and a step-by-step approach toward disarmament under the current conditions. Rebutting arguments by scientists seeking a nuclear weapons convention based on the inhumanity of nuclear arms, calling this idea unrealistic, both nuclear superpowers clung to this position.
Hiromichi Umebayashi, a conference participant and the former director of Nagasaki University’s Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, said that, in light of the growing international call for greater attention on the inhumane nature of nuclear arms, the nuclear weapon states, including the United States and Russia, will be much more likely to oppose discussions for creating a legal mechanism to eliminate nuclear weapons. Mr. Umebayashi believes it is important to create opportunities for new multilateral discussions that can lead to a legal ban on nuclear arms. The language of “legally banning nuclear weapons” was included in the Nagasaki Declaration.
Meanwhile, scientists from Japan, the only nation to have experienced nuclear attack, were increasingly viewed with stern expressions by the other participants. This could be attributed to the Japanese government’s decision to abstain from adopting a resolution which calls for creating a legal framework for banning nuclear weapons at the First Committee (on Disarmament and International Security) of the United Nations General Assembly, which was meeting at the same time as the Pugwash Conference.
Tatsujiro Suzuki, the chair of the organizing committee for the conference in Nagasaki, said that one of the differences from the Pugwash Conference held in Hiroshima in 2005 is the rising awareness that progress toward nuclear abolition cannot be made until those nations which rely on the nuclear umbrella change their security policies. This is why the Nagasaki Declaration is the first Pugwash declaration to include a statement which calls on non-nuclear weapon states to move away from security policies which depend on the nuclear umbrella. The response of the Japanese government to this statement will be closely watched.
The conference participants hope that the meeting of foreign ministers to be held in Hiroshima next April prior to the 2016 summit meeting (Ise-Shima Summit) will provide an opportunity to increase awareness of the inhumanity of nuclear arms. “Remember your humanity, and forget the rest.” The A-bombed cities shoulder an important responsibility for “dialogue across the political divide,” an appeal from the Russell-Einstein Manifesto of 1955, which called upon scientists from around the world to assemble to discuss the threat posed by nuclear weapons.
(Originally published on November 6, 2015)
