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".
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