With nuclear ban treaty set to enter into force next January, Hibakusha Appeal network’s Hiroshima chapter extends international signature drive until year end
Oct. 28, 2020
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer
On October 27, at a meeting held in the city’s Naka Ward, the Hiroshima prefectural chapter of the Hibakusha Appeal network, consisting of seven Hiroshima A-bomb survivors’ groups, decided to extend its signature campaign, which was originally scheduled to end in September, until the end of this year. Taking the entry into force of the nuclear ban treaty next January as a good opportunity, members of the Hiroshima chapter will restart collecting signatures on the street, work that has been put off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Hiroshima prefectural chapter was established in March 2018, with the aim of the groups working together in collecting signatures worldwide to call on all countries to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Its goal was to collect 1.4 million signatures, in what would amount to about half of Hiroshima Prefecture’s population. By the middle of September this year, the original deadline, 819,450 signatures had been collected.
On October 27, following the nationwide Hibakusha Appeal network’s decision to extend the signature drive until the end of the year on the news of the effectuation of the TPNW, the Hiroshima prefectural chapter deliberated on whether they would continue the signature drive. Toshiyuki Mimaki, 78, vice chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Prefectural Hidankyo, chaired by Sunao Tsuboi) proposed continuation. “The signature drive now has momentum,” he said. Kunihiko Sakuma, 76, chair of the other Hiroshima Prefectural Hidankyo, agreed with Mr. Mimaki’s proposal.
At the meeting, the Hiroshima prefectural chapter also decided on a plan to collect signatures on the street in the downtown area of Hiroshima City in November, for the first time in about a year. Moreover, based on the idea that the “countdown board” established in front of Nagasaki City Hall by the Nagasaki City government has been effective at informing citizens about the number of days remaining until the TPNW effectuation, an idea of installing a similar one in Hiroshima was also suggested.
(Originally published on October 28, 2020)
On October 27, at a meeting held in the city’s Naka Ward, the Hiroshima prefectural chapter of the Hibakusha Appeal network, consisting of seven Hiroshima A-bomb survivors’ groups, decided to extend its signature campaign, which was originally scheduled to end in September, until the end of this year. Taking the entry into force of the nuclear ban treaty next January as a good opportunity, members of the Hiroshima chapter will restart collecting signatures on the street, work that has been put off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Hiroshima prefectural chapter was established in March 2018, with the aim of the groups working together in collecting signatures worldwide to call on all countries to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Its goal was to collect 1.4 million signatures, in what would amount to about half of Hiroshima Prefecture’s population. By the middle of September this year, the original deadline, 819,450 signatures had been collected.
On October 27, following the nationwide Hibakusha Appeal network’s decision to extend the signature drive until the end of the year on the news of the effectuation of the TPNW, the Hiroshima prefectural chapter deliberated on whether they would continue the signature drive. Toshiyuki Mimaki, 78, vice chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Prefectural Hidankyo, chaired by Sunao Tsuboi) proposed continuation. “The signature drive now has momentum,” he said. Kunihiko Sakuma, 76, chair of the other Hiroshima Prefectural Hidankyo, agreed with Mr. Mimaki’s proposal.
At the meeting, the Hiroshima prefectural chapter also decided on a plan to collect signatures on the street in the downtown area of Hiroshima City in November, for the first time in about a year. Moreover, based on the idea that the “countdown board” established in front of Nagasaki City Hall by the Nagasaki City government has been effective at informing citizens about the number of days remaining until the TPNW effectuation, an idea of installing a similar one in Hiroshima was also suggested.
(Originally published on October 28, 2020)
