Hibakusha, Ngos Submit Demands To Japan Govt. Ahead Of Npt Review Talks
Atomic-bomb survivors and NGOs have stated their demands to Japan's government ahead of a review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Kishida Fumio will be the first Japanese prime minister to attend the conference that will be held next month at the UN headquarters in New York. Atomic-bomb survivors, or hibakusha, will also speak at the meeting.
The Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition held an online news conference on Thursday. It explained the discussions it had with Foreign Ministry officials the previous day.
The group says it submitted five demands to the government.
One demand is for the Japanese government to recognize the significance of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The group also wants the final document of the conference to clearly state the inhumanity of nuclear arms and the significance of the UN nuclear ban treaty.
The group said Foreign Ministry officials responded they will attend the meeting with an understanding that the inhumanity of nuclear weapons is an important issue.
Ministry officials also said they regard the UN nuclear treaty ban as an exit to a world without nuclear weapons.
Tanaka Terumi of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, spoke at Thursday's conference.
The atomic-bomb survivor said the review conference holds a different meaning as it will be held after the nuclear ban treaty went into force and as Russia continues its aggression in Ukraine while making nuclear threats.
He said he wants the Japanese government to earnestly present its position as an atomic-bombed country and to speak on behalf of the hibakusha.