About Hidankyo
From monthly paper "Hidankyo" December 2003
Focus Put on the Understanding of the Whole Impact of the Blast and the Radiation
On November 15th at the Co-op Plaza in Tokyo, a meeting took place between the lawyers and the supporters of the concerted lawsuits against the government over the official recognition of A-bomb diseases.
At the meeting, approximately 80 people attended, including Hibakusha from all across Japan and representatives from a national lawyers' team for the plaintiffs as well as those from support organizations. The representatives who participated were not only from the prefectures that have already joined the suits but also from prefectures like Miyagi, Shizuoka, Gifu, and Kagoshima, where there is a plan to join the suits in the near future.
Reports from different prefectures confirmed that the concerted suits are gaining wide support and the movement is gaining momentum.
From Chiba prefecture, it was reported that the Hibakusha performed a sitting protest to gain petition. This example encouraged many groups to understand the importance of being out there on the street to collect more support and financing needed for the suits.
From Hiroshima prefecture, the participants reported that the local Hibakusha organizations get together for activities to gain support, and it was also reported that they feel that this lawsuit is a fight to attain the goal of humanity to have a nuclear-free environment.
In the report from Kumamoto prefecture, they have gained support with a perspective on a fact that the American veterans receive compensations from their government, but Hibakusha here do not. On December 19th, they plan to establish a "Support Group" with a variety of participants and bring their claims officially to the court.
Criticizing the Probability of Hibakusha's diseases as caused by the bombing
At the meeting, Tetsuro Miyahara, Secretary General of the national lawyers' team, shared the mid-process report, pointing particular focus on 1) how the whole damage for 58 years after the bombing should be understood, 2) how the standard of official recognition of A-bomb diseases should be established including for both Hibakusha entered the epicenter after the bombing and exposed in remote areas, and 3) how we should criticize the Probability of Hibakusha's diseases as caused by the bombing which the government has adopted for applicants who seek official recognition.
During his speech, the Chief of the lawyers' team, Masanori Ikeda cited the late Mr. Tagawa that "if Hiroshima and Nagasaki are forgotten, the mistakes will be repeated". To win the case, he emphasized to bring this court case out of the court to the whole world, including the United Nations, in order to facilitate international responsibility on elimination of nuclear weapons.
Furthermore, lawyer Masayoshi Naito criticized the Probability of Hibakusha's diseases as caused by the bombing which is being focused on the case. Mr. Naito explained how the results of surveys by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (and former the ABCC), which are internationally acknowledged, are unreliable. He claimed the necessity of setting up a new set of data from surveys on the Hibakusha to determine the standard.
In response to this criticism, lawyer Shouji Takamizawa told that "the real problem of the Probability will be revealed by tracing and matching the experienced impacts of the radiation" and he clarified the direction of the discussions in the future court.
Bringing the Support Groups across the Country Together
The opinion exchange session sought issues concerning people joining the court-case posthumously, problems with taking over the case by family member of the late plaintiff, financial problems, and organizing the groups of plaintiffs all over the country. There was also a wish expressed to organize a nation-wide support for the concerted action.
At the meeting, the Assistant Secretary General of Hidankyo, Mikiso Iwasa reported on "the on-going activity of the Hibakusha for the concerted lawsuits", and another Assistant Secretary General, Satoru Konishi, discussed "the international activities of Hidankyo as well as "the International Citizens' Conference on No More Hiroshima, No More Nagasaki".
