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Nobel Peace Prize laureates call for abolishing nuclear weapons

by Yumi Kanazaki, Staff Writer

On November 14, the 2010 World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, the first such event held in Japan, closed its three-day schedule in the city of Hiroshima after holding the “Hiroshima Appeal” in Peace Memorial Park, near the hypocenter of the atomic bomb. After remarks delivered to the public by the Nobel Peace Prize laureates, “The Hiroshima Declaration on the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons.” was issued.

The six Nobel Peace Prize laureates appeared in front of the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and, in turn, spoke to the nearly 7,000 people in attendance (as reported by the City Hiroshima). Jody Williams, the anti-landmine activist from the United States, said that if citizens work together, nuclear weapons can be outlawed, much like landmines and cluster munitions. Shirin Ebadi, the human rights activist from Iran, said that Hiroshima is a role model that a world full of conflict should learn from.

The summit’s secretariat in Rome, the main organizer of the event, presented the “Peace Summit Award 2010” to Roberto Baggio, the former Italian soccer star, as well as a special award for the Hiroshima summit to the Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations.

“The Hiroshima Declaration on the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons” states clearly from the outset that “The undersigned Nobel Peace Laureates and representatives of Nobel Peace Prize organizations gathered in Hiroshima…after listening to the testimonies of the Hibakusha, have no doubt that the use of nuclear weapons against any populated area should be regarded as a crime against humanity…”

The declaration goes on to list a six-point proposal for advancing toward a nuclear-free world, including calls for… *“nations to start work on a universal treaty to abolish nuclear weapons, in partnership with civil society” *“China, the United States, Egypt, Iran, Israel and Indonesia to ratify, and…India, Pakistan and North Korea to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty” *“the relevant Governments to take urgent steps to implement the proposals agreed on in the Final Document of the May 2010 NPT Review Conference” to advance the realization of a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction

Meanwhile, no further remarks were made on human rights issues in China in connection with the jailed Liu Xiaobo, a human rights activist in China and this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

At a press conference after the conclusion of the summit, Mairead Maguire, the peace activist from Northern Ireland, read a statement on behalf of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates which welcomed the release from house arrest of Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

(Originally published on November 16, 2010)

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Final declaration of World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates to propose convention for nuclear abolition (Nov. 14, 2010)
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Recipient of “Peace Summit Award 2010” visits Peace Memorial Park (Nov. 13, 2010)

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