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by Junji Akechi, Staff Writer

Following the breakdown of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City through August 26, seven A-bomb survivors’ groups and non-governmental organizations from Hiroshima held a series of press conferences on August 29. The groups expressed disappointment and anger that the NPT regime failed to present concrete measures for the elimination of nuclear weapons and called for increasing membership in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

The seven A-bomb survivors’ groups released a statement at a press conference held at Hiroshima City Hall. The statement included criticism of the nuclear weapons states, including Russia, which persists in its invasion of Ukraine. “The countries’ arrogance and unwillingness to pursue nuclear disarmament have been revealed for all to see.” The groups emphasized their intent to demand that nuclear weapons states declare they would neither use nor threaten to use nuclear weapons and to also urge Japan’s national government to ratify the TPNW.

Toshiyuki Mimaki, 80, chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo), said, “It was not a decent conference. It’s so frustrating that we don’t have a surefire remedy for nuclear abolition.” Kunihiko Sakuma, 77, chair of the other Hiroshima Hidankyo, called Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s speech at the conference “disappointing,” adding that “he made no mention of either the TPNW or A-bomb survivors.” Mr. Sakuma also indicated that his group, through a signature drive, would call on the national government to ratify the TPNW.

The Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, based in Tokyo, held its own press conference online.

Shuichi Adachi, who heads the Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (HANWA), a Hiroshima citizens’ group, expressed his indignation. “Couldn’t they at least have agreed to the principle of no first use?” Shizuka Kuramitsu, a graduate of Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, in the city’s Naka Ward, who now studies as a graduate student at a U.S. university, participated as an observer at the review conference in New York. ”It is also important to view the issue of nuclear weapons in the larger framework of social justice that includes matters involving the environment and race,” said Ms. Kuramitsu.

The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), based in Tokyo, released a statement on the same day. It said that the group “will work to save humanity from crisis by eliminating nuclear weapons without being daunted by the failure to adopt a final document.”

(Originally published on August 30, 2022)