Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization requests revision of certification system for A-bomb diseases
Oct. 16, 2013
by Jumpei Fujimura, Staff Writer
The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) gathered at the Diet building in Tokyo on October 10 and asked that the nation’s political parties support state compensation for the damages caused by the atomic bombings and a substantial revision of the certification system for A-bomb diseases. The group also handed signatures of support from 195,754 people to Diet members from various parties. These signatures will be submitted to the Diet, along with a petition, which calls for amendments to the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law.
About 90 survivors of the atomic bombings and second-generation survivors took part in the meeting with seven Diet members from five political parties: the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Japan, the New Komeito, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party. The survivors, which included Mikiso Iwasa, an A-bomb survivor and the executive director of Nihon Hidankyo, handed the lawmakers a request that was addressed to the heads of their parties.
The petition, which calls for stipulating state compensation and the abolition of nuclear weapons as objectives of the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law, will be submitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the House of Councillors through the Diet members. Nihon Hidankyo has been collecting signatures since 2011, seeking 10 million signatures, to call for the law to be amended in 2015, the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings. This is the first time that such signatures have been submitted to Japan’s political parties.
Hiroshi Hiraguchi, the Parliamentary Secretary of Justice (of the Liberal Democratic Party, elected from Hiroshima’s second district), received the request and the signatures and made it clear that he gives weight to the survivors’ appeal. “With regard to the revision of the certification system for A-bomb diseases, the national panel will present its conclusion by the end of this year,” he said. “I will study the content of their report closely.”
Nihon Hidankyo also submitted its request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and other agencies. In addition, it appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to proactively support the current joint statement on the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.
(Originally published on October 11, 2013)
The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) gathered at the Diet building in Tokyo on October 10 and asked that the nation’s political parties support state compensation for the damages caused by the atomic bombings and a substantial revision of the certification system for A-bomb diseases. The group also handed signatures of support from 195,754 people to Diet members from various parties. These signatures will be submitted to the Diet, along with a petition, which calls for amendments to the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law.
About 90 survivors of the atomic bombings and second-generation survivors took part in the meeting with seven Diet members from five political parties: the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Japan, the New Komeito, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party. The survivors, which included Mikiso Iwasa, an A-bomb survivor and the executive director of Nihon Hidankyo, handed the lawmakers a request that was addressed to the heads of their parties.
The petition, which calls for stipulating state compensation and the abolition of nuclear weapons as objectives of the Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law, will be submitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the House of Councillors through the Diet members. Nihon Hidankyo has been collecting signatures since 2011, seeking 10 million signatures, to call for the law to be amended in 2015, the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings. This is the first time that such signatures have been submitted to Japan’s political parties.
Hiroshi Hiraguchi, the Parliamentary Secretary of Justice (of the Liberal Democratic Party, elected from Hiroshima’s second district), received the request and the signatures and made it clear that he gives weight to the survivors’ appeal. “With regard to the revision of the certification system for A-bomb diseases, the national panel will present its conclusion by the end of this year,” he said. “I will study the content of their report closely.”
Nihon Hidankyo also submitted its request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and other agencies. In addition, it appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to proactively support the current joint statement on the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.
(Originally published on October 11, 2013)
