Through Diet members, Kakuwaka Hiroshima group calls for Japan’s participation in August discussions on support for nuclear victims
Mar. 30, 2024
by Fumiyasu Miyano, Staff Writer
An international meeting will be held later this year, possibly in August, to discuss a global trust fund for the support of victims of nuclear weapons use or testing. Through Japan Diet members with ties to Hiroshima, Kakuwaka Hiroshima, a group of young voters in Hiroshima working to understand nuclear policies, is calling on the Japanese government to participate in the meeting. The group insists that the country’s experience in assisting survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would prove useful in the deliberations.
Since February, Kakuwaka Hiroshima members have been paying visits to individual Diet members in Tokyo and Hiroshima. On March 25, Miho Tanaka, 29, the group’s co-chair who lives in Hiroshima’s Nishi Ward, and Yuki Tamaki, 25, a company employee in Tokyo who is originally from Hiroshima’s Saeki Ward, met with Ayaka Shiomura at her office in the National Diet Building. A Tokyo member of Japan’s House of Councilors (Diet’s upper house) of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Ms. Shiomura is from Fukuyama City in Hiroshima Prefecture and a second-generation A-bomb survivor.
The two group members informed Ms. Shiomura about the meeting and asked her “to share the information with other Diet members and consider working with them across party lines.” In response, Ms. Shiomura said, “It would be easier for the government to participate if the stated purpose was to provide support for victims.”
Kakuwaka members have thus far met in Hiroshima with Akira Hirabayashi of the Komeito Party (Chugoku proportional representation block) and Minoru Terada of the Liberal Democratic Party (representing Hiroshima’s 5th district). Later, on February 27, Mr. Hirabayashi raised the issue of support for nuclear victims with the government in a House of Representatives (lower house) budget committee and introduced Kakuwaka Hiroshima’s activities.
The international meeting appears as if it will be held in Kazakhstan at the end of August. Kakuwaka Hiroshima is also calling on Japan’s government to provide a financial contribution to the trust fund. The third meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which will be chaired by Kazakhstan, is scheduled to be held in March next year, a time marking 80 years since the atomic bombings. “We want to make this upcoming year a year of progress toward nuclear abolition,” Ms. Tanaka said with enthusiasm.
Keywords
International trust fund for support of victims of nuclear weapons use or testing
Discussions are underway to establish concrete measures, as required by Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), to provide assistance to people exposed to radiation from nuclear testing and uranium mining, and to restore the environment in radiation-contaminated areas. The government of Kazakhstan, the country playing the lead role in the discussions, is looking to hold the meeting as early as the end of August to discuss the nature and details of the trust fund. Kazakhstan is also considering extending a meeting invitation to non-signatory nations to the TPNW such as Japan and Germany.
(Originally published on March 30, 2024)
An international meeting will be held later this year, possibly in August, to discuss a global trust fund for the support of victims of nuclear weapons use or testing. Through Japan Diet members with ties to Hiroshima, Kakuwaka Hiroshima, a group of young voters in Hiroshima working to understand nuclear policies, is calling on the Japanese government to participate in the meeting. The group insists that the country’s experience in assisting survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would prove useful in the deliberations.
Since February, Kakuwaka Hiroshima members have been paying visits to individual Diet members in Tokyo and Hiroshima. On March 25, Miho Tanaka, 29, the group’s co-chair who lives in Hiroshima’s Nishi Ward, and Yuki Tamaki, 25, a company employee in Tokyo who is originally from Hiroshima’s Saeki Ward, met with Ayaka Shiomura at her office in the National Diet Building. A Tokyo member of Japan’s House of Councilors (Diet’s upper house) of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Ms. Shiomura is from Fukuyama City in Hiroshima Prefecture and a second-generation A-bomb survivor.
The two group members informed Ms. Shiomura about the meeting and asked her “to share the information with other Diet members and consider working with them across party lines.” In response, Ms. Shiomura said, “It would be easier for the government to participate if the stated purpose was to provide support for victims.”
Kakuwaka members have thus far met in Hiroshima with Akira Hirabayashi of the Komeito Party (Chugoku proportional representation block) and Minoru Terada of the Liberal Democratic Party (representing Hiroshima’s 5th district). Later, on February 27, Mr. Hirabayashi raised the issue of support for nuclear victims with the government in a House of Representatives (lower house) budget committee and introduced Kakuwaka Hiroshima’s activities.
The international meeting appears as if it will be held in Kazakhstan at the end of August. Kakuwaka Hiroshima is also calling on Japan’s government to provide a financial contribution to the trust fund. The third meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which will be chaired by Kazakhstan, is scheduled to be held in March next year, a time marking 80 years since the atomic bombings. “We want to make this upcoming year a year of progress toward nuclear abolition,” Ms. Tanaka said with enthusiasm.
Keywords
International trust fund for support of victims of nuclear weapons use or testing
Discussions are underway to establish concrete measures, as required by Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), to provide assistance to people exposed to radiation from nuclear testing and uranium mining, and to restore the environment in radiation-contaminated areas. The government of Kazakhstan, the country playing the lead role in the discussions, is looking to hold the meeting as early as the end of August to discuss the nature and details of the trust fund. Kazakhstan is also considering extending a meeting invitation to non-signatory nations to the TPNW such as Japan and Germany.
(Originally published on March 30, 2024)
