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A-bomb survivors and Hiroshima mayor express disappointment over draft of NPT final document

by Kohei Okata, Staff Writer

A call for world leaders to visit the A-bombed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has not been included in the draft of the final document of the NPT Review Conference. On May 22, A-bombed survivors of Hiroshima expressed their disappointment over this outcome.

Toshiyuki Mimaki, 73, vice chair of one faction of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations, chaired by Sunao Tsuboi, expressed his regret by saying, “As an A-bomb survivor, I had hoped that the words Hiroshima and Nagasaki would be incorporated into the draft of the final document.” Mr. Mimaki visited New York in conjunction with the Review Conference and shared his experiences of the atomic bombing with young people there. He sensed strongly that his A-bomb account helped the young people understand the consequences of the atomic bombing. He stressed, however, “Visiting the A-bombed cities would further deepen people’s understanding of the terror of nuclear weapons.”

“It’s such a shame that the wording for a visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not restored to the document,” said Kazuo Okoshi, 75, in a bitter tone. Mr. Okoshi is acting chairperson of the other faction of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations. He pointed out that the wording related to a nuclear weapons convention, which had been included in an earlier draft, was also deleted from the final document. He said, “A nuclear weapons convention is now supported by many countries. If the Japanese government is adamant about the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, they should make efforts to advance this treaty with the same amount of enthusiasm they showed for calling for people to visit the A-bombed cities,” criticizing the government for its negative stance.

In response to the removal of this language about visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Mayors for Peace distributed a document that calls on the conference participants to support restoring the wording. On this day, in a hastily arranged press conference, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said, “I’m very sorry that the names of the cities were dropped.” However, with respect to the phrase “through interactions with and directly sharing the experiences of the people and the communities affected by nuclear weapons,” which was added in place of the visit to the A-bombed cities language, Mr. Matsui said, “This phrase can be interpreted to mean that our wishes have been taken into consideration. The conference has moved half a step or one step forward for a world free of nuclear weapons.”

(Originally published on May 23, 2015)

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