Hiroshima Summit 2023: NGO Network urges Foreign Ministry to reflect A-bomb survivor voices when determining G7 summit agenda
Oct. 7, 2022
by Junya Kuchimoto, Staff Writer
On October 6, ahead of the summit meeting of the G7 (attended by the Group of Seven industrialized nations), scheduled to be held in Hiroshima next May, the Tokyo-based NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition made a request of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to determine the agenda for the G7 Summit based on opinions expressed by A-bomb survivors, who demand that action be taken to eliminate nuclear weapons.
Eleven representatives from nine NGO network groups, including the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), visited the ministry and held talks with Shigeki Ito, deputy director-general of the ministry’s Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department. In a written request, the NGO network delegation expressed its opinion that the G7 Hiroshima Summit represents an opportunity for Japan to exercise leadership in the direction of nuclear disarmament. The group also demanded that Japan’s national government schedule talks with survivors groups as well as non-governmental organizations and make information about that process available to the public.
According to Akira Kawasaki, joint representative of the NGO network and a member of ICAN’s international steering committee, Mr. Ito responded that he would consider options based on the request received from the NGO network. Mr. Kawasaki said, “We would like G7 leaders to deliver a statement during the summit that is aligned with Hiroshima’s message pointing out the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons.”
In the written request, the NGO network also indicated that the significance of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) should be indicated in the draft resolution on the elimination of nuclear weapons that the Japanese government submits to the United Nations General Assembly every year, and that NGOs should be added as participants in the meeting of the International Group of Eminent Persons, to be held in Hiroshima City.
(Originally published on October 7, 2022)
On October 6, ahead of the summit meeting of the G7 (attended by the Group of Seven industrialized nations), scheduled to be held in Hiroshima next May, the Tokyo-based NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition made a request of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to determine the agenda for the G7 Summit based on opinions expressed by A-bomb survivors, who demand that action be taken to eliminate nuclear weapons.
Eleven representatives from nine NGO network groups, including the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), visited the ministry and held talks with Shigeki Ito, deputy director-general of the ministry’s Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department. In a written request, the NGO network delegation expressed its opinion that the G7 Hiroshima Summit represents an opportunity for Japan to exercise leadership in the direction of nuclear disarmament. The group also demanded that Japan’s national government schedule talks with survivors groups as well as non-governmental organizations and make information about that process available to the public.
According to Akira Kawasaki, joint representative of the NGO network and a member of ICAN’s international steering committee, Mr. Ito responded that he would consider options based on the request received from the NGO network. Mr. Kawasaki said, “We would like G7 leaders to deliver a statement during the summit that is aligned with Hiroshima’s message pointing out the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons.”
In the written request, the NGO network also indicated that the significance of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) should be indicated in the draft resolution on the elimination of nuclear weapons that the Japanese government submits to the United Nations General Assembly every year, and that NGOs should be added as participants in the meeting of the International Group of Eminent Persons, to be held in Hiroshima City.
(Originally published on October 7, 2022)
