For the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons
the joint appeal
The following letter was issued on August 5, 2000 in Hiroshima at the "Global Hibakusha Solidarity Meeting" cosponsored by Nihon Hidankyo, the Message of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Organizing Committee of the World Conference against A & H Bombs.
This document was endorsed by twenty-six representatives of the nuclear weapons victim organizations from different parts of the world.
In September, Hidankyo sent the document to the United Nations and the national governments concerned, with our ardent desire for support and compensation for the nuclear weapons victims.
To Usher in a 21st Century without Nuclear Weapons:
Request to the United Nations and the National Government Concerned from the "Global Hibakusha Solidarity Meeting"
Having experienced the first nuclear war in history, the Japanese victims of the A-bombs (Hibakusha) have joined hands with the victims of nuclear weapons throughout the world and appealed with all their might: "Prevent nuclear war! Abolish nuclear weapons! However, ignoring their desperate calls, the nuclear weapons states have pursued nuclear weapons development and repeated more than 2000 nuclear tests. They have inflicted tremendous damage and suffering on their own people as well as the people of other countries.
Today, in Hiroshima, the first victim city of the atomic bombing, we learned the true situation in regard to the suffering of the Japanese Hibakusha; the victims of U.S. and British nuclear tests in Nevada and of U.S. test in the Marshall Islands; the victims of the former Soviet Union's nuclear weapons development in Cheryabinsk, and the Altai Region (Russia), and Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan); the victims of Chinese tests in Lop Nor; and the downwind victims of Hanford Nuclear Reservation, USA, down winders of Nevada Test Site, USA. We learned about the damage to the people in each of these areas from the accounts of the victims themselves.
The witnesses of the victims revealed that all stages of nuclear weapons --development, manufacture, testing and their actual use -- have caused tremendous damage to the people. However, these victims have not received the necessary protection and support from the government responsible for the damage, and they are left in pain and suffering. Also, it was reported that many victims are forced to live in an extremely contaminated environment.
Allowing such a situation to continue is inhuman and cannot be accepted.
Convinced that the elimination of nuclear weapons is the surest way to end the damage from nuclear weapons, we, the participants of the "Global Hibakusha Solidarity Meeting", as our collective will, urge the national governments concerned and the United Nations to take the following measures:
(1) To thoroughly investigate the damage caused by the development, manufacture, testing and accidents of nuclear weapons, including their use in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All information collected should be made public, particularly the results of studies on the genetic effects on future generations.
(2) To close all nuclear test sites and decontaminate them.
(3) The governments of the countries concerned should provide sufficient compensation to the nuclear weapons victims, including the dead and disabled.
(4) The countries concerned should make public the real situation regarding the involvement of private corporations in nuclear weapons development, and examine ways of cooperating to secure the resources for compensation for the victims.
(5) The United Nations should request its member state governments to supply information on the above items, disclose all the relevant information before the civil society and disseminate this information widely for achieving a world without nuclear weapons.
Hiroshima, August 5, 2000