1,400 representatives
of over 1000 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from 145 countries gathered
at the NGO Millennium Forum from May 22 to 26 at the United Nations Headquarters,
New York. 14 Hibakusha participated the Forum as members of
a joint delegation of "Message of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" Network.
At the workshops or meetings, Hibakusha called for elimination of nuclear
weapons.
After the Forum was over, the delegation visited Washington D.C. and
Boston in order to tell the truth of the atomic bombings, response to requests
from peace groups.
At the workshops
Declaration
Requests from Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) to the NGO Millennium Forum
1. The continuing existence of nuclear weapons, the menace caused by them, and accidental, miscalculated or intentional use of those weapons pose serious threat to the survival of the entire humanity and all lives on earth. The abolition of nuclear weapons is the most urgent task for securing a peaceful 21st century. We request that this task will form the keynote of the whole of the Forum and be discussed as the task of highest priority.
2. The use of nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki
in August 1945 claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people, and has left
the survivors with aftereffects from radiation and fear for their possible
outbreak. Moreover, in the process of production and testing, nuclear
weapons have produced many radiation victims in different parts of the
world, who are compelled to face nuclear terror in their living even today.
We call on the NGOs to urge the United Nations to conduct
investigation into actual conditions of all nuclear victims and make public
its result. We also call on the U.N. and NGOs to bring the case of
nuclear victims to the U.N. Human Rights Commission as the violation of
human rights of the victims, and urge the states concerned to take relief
measures for them.
3. We highly value the 1996 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice that stated, "the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law". However, it is nothing but the guse of nuclear weapons in an extreme circumstance c in which the very survival of a state would be at stakeh, on which the ICJ could not make definitive conclusion on its illegality, that will inevitably lead to devastating nuclear exchange. We request that the NGO Millennium Forum take a position that will regard unconditionally the threat or use of nuclear weapons as violation of international law.
On behalf of Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations
Nori Tohei
Secretary General