Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations asks President Obama to meet A-bomb survivors
May 19, 2016
by Michiko Tanaka, Staff Writer
On May 18, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), based in Tokyo, sent a letter of request to the White House and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, urging U.S. President Barack Obama to listen to the stories of A-bomb survivors in order to grasp the catastrophic nature of the atomic bombing when he visits Hiroshima on May 27. Hidankyo, which has repeatedly called for the U.S. government to apologize to the survivors for the atomic bombings, did not include this demand in their current letter of request.
About the idea of Mr. Obama possibly meeting some survivors during his visit to the city, U.S. officials have indicated that this would be difficult due to time constraints. The letter from Hidankyo asks the president to “listen to the A-bomb survivors’ experiences of the indescribable hell on earth, and be committed to a nuclear-free world.”
The letter also calls on the president to expedite efforts for realizing “a world without nuclear weapons,” the focus of the speech he made in Prague in April 2009; have the U.S. Mission to the United Nations attend the nuclear disarmament U.N. working group meeting; and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) during his tenure.
In a document prepared by Hidankyo in 1984, the “Basic Demands of the Atomic Bomb Survivors,” the organization calls on the U.S. government to recognize and acknowledge that the atomic bombings of Japan were in violation of international law and apologize to the A-bomb survivors. As to why the word “apology” was not included in the letter of request on this occasion, Hidankyo’s secretariat offered this explanation: “The concept of our basic demands remains the same. Some survivors, however, say that if demanding that the American president apologize prevents him from visiting Hiroshima, they would prefer not to demand an apology. Considering the lack of time for discussion, we decided to prepare a statement which could gain a broad consensus.”
“We would certainly like an apology made to the people who lost their children because of the atomic bomb,” Terumi Tanaka, 84, the secretary general of Hidankyo, said in a news conference. He added, “President Obama should understand their feelings and show determination to realize a world without nuclear weapons. Although the Japanese and U.S. governments call his visit ‘a future-oriented visit,’ it is impossible to talk about the future without reflecting on the past.”
(Originally published on May 19, 2016)
On May 18, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), based in Tokyo, sent a letter of request to the White House and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, urging U.S. President Barack Obama to listen to the stories of A-bomb survivors in order to grasp the catastrophic nature of the atomic bombing when he visits Hiroshima on May 27. Hidankyo, which has repeatedly called for the U.S. government to apologize to the survivors for the atomic bombings, did not include this demand in their current letter of request.
About the idea of Mr. Obama possibly meeting some survivors during his visit to the city, U.S. officials have indicated that this would be difficult due to time constraints. The letter from Hidankyo asks the president to “listen to the A-bomb survivors’ experiences of the indescribable hell on earth, and be committed to a nuclear-free world.”
The letter also calls on the president to expedite efforts for realizing “a world without nuclear weapons,” the focus of the speech he made in Prague in April 2009; have the U.S. Mission to the United Nations attend the nuclear disarmament U.N. working group meeting; and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) during his tenure.
In a document prepared by Hidankyo in 1984, the “Basic Demands of the Atomic Bomb Survivors,” the organization calls on the U.S. government to recognize and acknowledge that the atomic bombings of Japan were in violation of international law and apologize to the A-bomb survivors. As to why the word “apology” was not included in the letter of request on this occasion, Hidankyo’s secretariat offered this explanation: “The concept of our basic demands remains the same. Some survivors, however, say that if demanding that the American president apologize prevents him from visiting Hiroshima, they would prefer not to demand an apology. Considering the lack of time for discussion, we decided to prepare a statement which could gain a broad consensus.”
“We would certainly like an apology made to the people who lost their children because of the atomic bomb,” Terumi Tanaka, 84, the secretary general of Hidankyo, said in a news conference. He added, “President Obama should understand their feelings and show determination to realize a world without nuclear weapons. Although the Japanese and U.S. governments call his visit ‘a future-oriented visit,’ it is impossible to talk about the future without reflecting on the past.”
(Originally published on May 19, 2016)
