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International conferences in Hiroshima to explore path toward nuclear abolition

by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer

In the city of Hiroshima, which is marking the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing this year, a series of international conferences seeking a way forward to a world free of nuclear weapons will begin on August 24. On August 24 and 25, a meeting of the “Group of Eminent Persons” of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) will be held for the first time in Japan. From August 26 to 28, about 100 diplomats and experts from some 20 nations will discuss concrete measures for nuclear disarmament and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons at the U.N. Conference on Disarmament Issues. With the movement for the abolition of nuclear weapons reaching an impasse following the failure of the 2015 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) to reach consensus in May, it is hoped that these conferences will serve as productive opportunities to consider the campaign’s next steps.

The Group of Eminent Persons, which was established in September 2013, consists of 21 ex-cabinet ministers and former heads of state. They have held three meetings so far and have advocated an early entry into force of the CTBT by pressing eight countries, including the United States and China, to ratify the treaty. The Hiroshima meeting, to take place at a hotel in Minami Ward, will be attended by 10 people including former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry and former U.K. Defense Secretary Des Browne. The United States and the United Kingdom both hold nuclear weapons. The participants will discuss the “Hiroshima Declaration” behind closed doors and release it to the public on August 25.

Organized by the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, the U.N. Conference on Disarmament Issues has been held in Japan nearly every year since 1989. This year marks the 25th meeting and the fourth in Hiroshima since 1996, after an interval of 19 years.

The U.N. Disarmament Conference will be held at the same hotel in Minami Ward. On the first day of the meeting, Mr. Perry, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, Sunao Tsuboi, chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations, and other participants will discuss concrete measures for the abolition of nuclear weapons. On the second day, the conference participants will consider four topics including an overview and the future prospects of the NPT Review Conference and the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. On the final day, young people from Japan and abroad will make presentations on their peace activities.

The participants of the two conferences will visit the Peace Memorial Park, in Naka Ward, as part of Hiroshima City’s efforts to convey the effects of the atomic bombing. They will lay flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims and visit the Peace Memorial Museum. They will also meet atomic bomb survivors and listen to their accounts. Mr. Matsui is hoping that the conference participants will share the thoughts and feelings of the people of the A-bombed city and appeal to their political leaders to take further steps toward the abolition of nuclear arms.

(Originally published on August 23, 2015)

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