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The Key to a World without Nuclear Weapons

Japanese woman lends support for French referendum on nuclear abolition

The Key to a World without Nuclear Weapons

by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer

A grassroots effort is now being made by a woman from Japan, the A-bombed nation, to support an international signature drive taking place in nuclear-armed France to realize a national referendum. The referendum will ask French citizens if they wish to have their government participate in negotiations at the United Nations to establish a treaty that would outlaw and eliminate nuclear weapons, then ratify that treaty. The woman’s name is Junko Abe, 71, an interpreter from the city of Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture. Motivated by her experience explaining the damage wrought by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima to people in Japan and overseas, and with the hope of realizing nuclear abolition through such a treaty, Ms. Abe translated a statement into Japanese which appeals for support for this campaign. She is now calling on citizens in Japan to submit their signatures.

Ms. Abe recalls being moved by the charred tricycle she saw at the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, a burnt belonging from the atomic bombing. After this, for about 10 years starting in 1991, she traveled back and forth between Matsuyama and Hiroshima to serve as an English guide at the museum and an interpreter at international meetings on nuclear disarmament. When she was a part-time lecturer at Ehime University, she appealed for peace with her students in Hiroshima in 2010, and in the United States in 2012, while holding a banner that stressed the tragedy of the atomic bombing.

The signature drive is being carried out by the French citizens’ group “Action of Citizens for the Total Dismantling of Nukes (ACDN).” The campaign, with the support of people in other nations, seeks to advance a referendum in France that would sway the French government, which voted against the U.N. resolution to begin negotiations for a treaty that would ban nuclear arms. To realize this referendum, 185 parliamentarians (one-fifth of the total number) must endorse a bill proposing the referendum. As of January 11, 110 have agreed to back this bill.

Ms. Abe learned about ACDN’s signature drive through information she saw online last fall, and offered the group her support because she wanted to help their cause as a citizen of the A-bombed nation. She then translated their statement, appealing for signatures from people around the world, into Japanese. The statement includes language like “Nuclear weapons threaten to annihilate millions of people, entire populations, and humankind itself” and “Around 75% of French citizens would answer YES to this question: Do you want France to negotiate and ratify, alongside other concerned nations, a treaty that would outlaw and eliminate nuclear weapons, under mutual and international control that is strict and effective?” Via email, Ms. Abe has been distributing the Japanese version of this statement to associates in Japan.

The Japanese government also voted against the U.N. resolution. Ms. Abe said, “Since our government showed its shameless face to the world in voting this way, we have to take action as Japanese citizens. I hope submitting signatures from Japan to France can also strengthen the appeal of Japanese citizens to the Japanese government for nuclear abolition.” The document for submitting a signature is available at ACDN’s website and signatures can be submitted by email. The same document, translated into Japanese, can be received by email by calling Ms. Abe at 090-1328-9387.

Keywords

Negotiations for a treaty that would make nuclear weapons illegal
At the end of last year, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution to start negotiations for a treaty that would make nuclear weapons illegal. This initiative is led by non-nuclear nations that condemn the inhumanity of nuclear arms and the lack of progress being made internationally in nuclear disarmament. Though 123 nations indicated their support for the resolution at the First Committee (on Disarmament and International Security) of the U.N. General Assembly, where in-depth discussions took place, 38 nations including nuclear powers like the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, and France voted against the resolution because of security concerns and other reasons. The negotiations will take place in New York from March 27 to 31, and June 15 to July 7, to discuss the contents of such a treaty.

(Originally published on February 3, 2017)

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