For the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons
Message to the people of the US
Hibakusha delegation, consisted of four Hibakusha, Mr. Koji Ueda, Mr. Masakazu Saito, Mr. Ryuma Miyanaga and Mr. Eiji Nakanishi, visit Omaha (Nebraska), Washington D.C. and New Jersey from July 31 to August 11. They tell the truth of the atomic bombings and call for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Message to the People of the United States
August 2003
Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations
On behalf of the 280,000 Japanese Hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, we extend our warmest greetings of solidarity to the people of the United States who are working for peace.
It has been almost two years since the September 11th terrorist attacks. We cordially express our deep condolences to the victims of last year's September 11th terrorist attacks and our heartfelt sympathy to those who have lost their loved ones. Before the mourning was over, the United States launched a retaliatory strike against Afghanistan, followed by a preemptive strike against Iraq. Many innocent people’s lives have been taken by cluster bombs, bunker buster bombs, depleted uranium weapons, and other kind of lethal weapons. Many fathers, mothers, children, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters have lost loved ones. We also express our deepest sympathy to them.
We experienced the atrocity of the A-bomb hell, the greatest massacre in scale in human history. We have seen a number of A-bomb victims die in agony and pain. The agony was to last until their death with a possibility of being inherited to their children and grandchildren. Many testimonies of the Hibakusha have told us of the tragic suffering caused by the atomic bombings. We would like you to take this opportunity to listen to Hibakusha's testimonies.
We, the survivors of Atomic bomb, are living witnesses of the most devastating historical crime against humanity. However, we never use the word “retaliation”. We have always insisted “no more Hibakusha”, “no more Hiroshima”, and passed our experience down to younger generations. Today, we are here to tell you the same thing.
The horrific nature of nuclear weapons has been discussed in many aspects. Unfortunately, however, people are not yet well informed about the reality of such weapons. Nuclear weapons cause a large number of victims through the entire process of their production -- from uranium mining to development, manufacturing, testing and use, and throw these victims into unendurable suffering. No words can adequately describe the horror of these weapons that tortured and killed tens of thousands of people by throwing them into infernos in an instant. That is why we say nuclear weapons are the weapons of the devil. They cannot coexist with humans. Humans will never be freed from the menace of annihilation as long as nuclear weapons exist in the world, and we must abolish them from the face of this planet as soon as possible.
Nuclear weapons now threaten the annihilation of the entire human race in a moment. In particular, since "the Nuclear Posture Review" plan and usable low-yield nuclear weapons was proposed by the US Bush Administration last year, we have been facing the most serious dangers we ever had. On one hand, the Bush administration regards biological, chemical and nuclear weapons as “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, but on the other hand, they insist that they may have to retaliate using these same weapons. This is unacceptable. Nuclear weapons are not only WMD, but also weapons of extinction. Even “Usable low-yield nuclear weapons” are unthinkable. Once the nuclear weapons are used, no matter how low they yield, it will begin a catastrophic chain of escalation ending with the extinction of humankind.
Our minds can see all too well the horrific possibility in the Middle East, South Asia, and particularly the Korean peninsula ending up under the shadow of a mushroom cloud. Along with the US government, the Japanese government is responsible for having brought such critical circumstances. If both governments had openly publicized the inhumanity and cruelty of nuclear weapons after the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the elimination of nuclear weapons could have been achieved within several years after the war.
We the Hibakusha call on the government of the United States of America to acknowledge the A-Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as criminal acts and apologize for the crime, and translate the apology into action by making good on the “unequivocal undertaking” to accomplish the elimination of nuclear weapons from its arsenal (adopted at the NPT Review Conference, May 2000) without delay.
We request that the Bush administration stop threatening other countries with nuclear weapons, to retract NPR, and to immediately end all development of new low-yield nuclear weapons.
We continue to urge the Japanese government to take its due responsibility of apologizing and compensating for the grave suffering and damage it caused to the people of its own and of other countries. In the meantime, we also continue to call on the Japanese government to withdraw from the US "nuclear umbrella" and take the initiatives in developing the opinion for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion saying, “The threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law”. The Review Conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty in May 2000 made its agreement of undertaking from the nuclear powers to accomplish the elimination of their nuclear weapons. And the General Assembly of the UN has successively adopted its resolution toward elimination of nuclear weapons. We must not reverse the growing consensus of world public opinion in favor of the elimination of nuclear weapons.
We must act now to inform the world of the horror that nuclear weapons will bring, and accelerate the process of nuclear disarmament leading to the their total abolition. If all people would only share the desire of the Hibakusha, our dream of creating a nuclear weapon-free 21st century will come true. In fact, we are steadily coming closer to reach that goal.
It is a duty of those who lived the 20th century under the curse of nuclear weapons to pass on a world freed from the threat of nuclear weapons or war to our children who will live in a new century. And the peoples of Japan and the United States, above all, bear the greatest responsibility. It is we who can change our own governments’ policies. Let us walk hand in hand. Our future is in our hands.