Hiroshima Summit, May 19-21: Citizens’ group assembly held in Naka Ward issues statement to urge leaders of nuclear weapons states to fulfill their responsibility to nuclear victims
May 14, 2023
by Mitsuhiro Hamamura, Staff Writer
On May 13, prior to the summit meeting of G7 (Group of Seven industrialized nations) to open on May 19 in Hiroshima City, the citizens’ group Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (HANWA) held a gathering at the Memorial Cathedral for World Peace in Naka Ward, Hiroshima, to think about the damage caused by nuclear weapons all around the world. The group issued a statement calling on the leaders of the nuclear weapons states who are attending the summit meeting to fulfill their responsibility to the victims of nuclear weapons.
The gathering was attended by about 90 citizens, including those who attended online. The statement said the leaders of the nuclear weapons states who are attending the summit meeting are obliged to fulfill their responsibility to nuclear victims all around the world as a result of the development of their own nuclear weapons. The statement also strongly urges those leaders to pledge to ban nuclear weapons while they are in Hiroshima in order to atone for the victims of nuclear weapons and for the future of humankind.
During an A-bomb survivor’s testimony, Chieko Kiriaki, 93, a resident of Asaminami Ward, Hiroshima, who experienced the atomic bombing at the age of 15, said while recalling the situation after the dropping of the atomic bomb, “I lost many friends, relatives and school teachers. My relatives were in such a miserable state that we couldn’t even pick up pieces of their bones.” She encouraged the participants to firmly maintain peace to ensure we will never be drawn into war again.
In the keynote speech session, Dr. Tilman Ruff, co-founder of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a global non-governmental organization (NGO), spoke online on theme of nuclear damage. In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the use of nuclear weapons, Mr. Ruff said that it is important to advance nuclear disarmament on a global scale.
(Originally published on May 14, 2023)
On May 13, prior to the summit meeting of G7 (Group of Seven industrialized nations) to open on May 19 in Hiroshima City, the citizens’ group Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (HANWA) held a gathering at the Memorial Cathedral for World Peace in Naka Ward, Hiroshima, to think about the damage caused by nuclear weapons all around the world. The group issued a statement calling on the leaders of the nuclear weapons states who are attending the summit meeting to fulfill their responsibility to the victims of nuclear weapons.
The gathering was attended by about 90 citizens, including those who attended online. The statement said the leaders of the nuclear weapons states who are attending the summit meeting are obliged to fulfill their responsibility to nuclear victims all around the world as a result of the development of their own nuclear weapons. The statement also strongly urges those leaders to pledge to ban nuclear weapons while they are in Hiroshima in order to atone for the victims of nuclear weapons and for the future of humankind.
During an A-bomb survivor’s testimony, Chieko Kiriaki, 93, a resident of Asaminami Ward, Hiroshima, who experienced the atomic bombing at the age of 15, said while recalling the situation after the dropping of the atomic bomb, “I lost many friends, relatives and school teachers. My relatives were in such a miserable state that we couldn’t even pick up pieces of their bones.” She encouraged the participants to firmly maintain peace to ensure we will never be drawn into war again.
In the keynote speech session, Dr. Tilman Ruff, co-founder of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a global non-governmental organization (NGO), spoke online on theme of nuclear damage. In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the use of nuclear weapons, Mr. Ruff said that it is important to advance nuclear disarmament on a global scale.
(Originally published on May 14, 2023)
