Atomic Bombing Survivors Urge Govt. To Join Un Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons
A group of atomic bombing survivors in Japan has urged the government to join a United Nations treaty banning the use, development and possession of nuclear weapons.
The move came ahead of the first meeting of signatories to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, scheduled for June in the Austrian capital Vienna.
The Japanese government has maintained its stance that it will not join the treaty, along with nuclear powers.
Senior members of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, including Secretary General Kido Sueichi, visited the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Friday.
They submitted part of more than 900,000 signatures collected from across the nation since January last year, when the treaty took effect.
During a meeting held behind closed doors, the survivors renewed their call on the government to attend the signatories' conference as an observer. A ministry official reportedly only replied that it has not been decided yet whether Japan will participate.
Nihon Hidankyo plans to send two representatives to the conference to talk about the reality that nuclear weapons would bring about.
One of them, Ieshima Masashi, experienced the atomic bombing in Hiroshima when he was 3 years old. He told reporters that the global situation is tense, and he wants to strongly warn that nuclear weapons must never be used. He added that he feels he cannot stay in Japan and remain silent.