Nihon Hidankyo to send secretary-general and other members to Conference on Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, NPT Review Conference to communicate suffering caused by A-bombings
Jun. 10, 2022
Toshiyuki Mimaki elected as organization’s co-chairperson
by Koji Higuchi, Staff Writer
On June 9, the final day of its regular general meeting, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) announced that Sueichi Kido, 82, the organization’s secretary-general, will recount his experience in the atomic bombing at the Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, scheduled to take place on June 20 in Vienna, Austria. Nihon Hidankyo also decided to send Mr. Kido and three other members of the organization to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, to be held in New York City later this year, in August. At the event, the four members will communicate the horror of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
During a press conference held after the general meeting in Tokyo, Mr. Kido stressed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had increased the need to convey the reality of the atomic bombings. “I want to communicate the idea that nuclear weapons cause death that negates the humanity of human beings,” said Mr. Kido. He also announced that he and Masashi Ieshima, 79, representative director of the organization, will sit in on the First Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TNPW), to be held in Vienna during the period June 21–23.
As in the previous NPT review conference held in 2015, senior members of the organization will convey their A-bomb experiences during the upcoming conference. At the United Nations headquarters, the venue of the conference, panels explaining the suffering caused by the atomic bombings will also be on display.
At the general meeting, Toshiyuki Mimaki, 80, chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo), was elected as one of the organization’s three co-chairpersons, succeeding Sunao Tsuboi, who died in October of last year at the age of 96. With the Japanese government showing reluctance to join the TPNW, Mr. Mimaki said he hopes that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents Hiroshima Prefecture’s District No. 1, “will at least participate in the meeting as an observer.” He added, “I will follow in the footsteps of Mr. Tsuboi and make every effort to attain the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons.”
(Originally published on June 10, 2022)
