Prior to the first Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Austria this week, government representatives and NGOs will meet on the 20th to discuss the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.
As the situation in Ukraine raises the threat of nuclear weapons, the atomic bomb survivors in Nagasaki will also testify at the conference and will reiterate the inhumanity of nuclear weapons.
In Vienna, the capital of Austria, before the first meeting of the Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will be held from the 21st of this week, government representatives and NGOs from each country will participate in the "Nuclear Weapons" from the evening of the 20th of Japan time. A conference on humanitarian impacts will be held.
Focusing on the inhumane impact of nuclear weapons, the conference has been held in Norway, Mexico and Austria to support the realization of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, but since the treaty came into force. This is the first time it has been held.
At this conference, Mr. Kiichi Kido, who was bombed in Nagasaki at the age of 5, will testify about his experience of being bombed, and will also report on the latest research results on the impact of the use of nuclear weapons on humankind and the environment.
Representatives of the Government of Japan, who have not participated in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, are also expected to attend the conference following past conferences.
As the situation in Ukraine raises the threat of nuclear weapons, the Austrian government, which hosts the conference, has stopped the use and development of nuclear weapons by arousing the international community's interest in nuclear inhumanity, and has a ban treaty. It seems that there is an aim to reiterate the significance of.
The response of the Japanese government
International conferences on the inhumanity of nuclear weapons have been held three times from 2013 to the following year.
This will be the 4th time for the first time in 8 years.
The Government of Japan has dispatched delegations, saying that the conference is an important place to convey the reality of the atomic bombing, and this time as well, it dispatched hibakusha and Githabul Ministry officials.
On the other hand, the first meeting of the Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will be held from the 21st, but the Government of Japan has decided not to participate.
The Government of Japan has not ratified the treaty, saying that it would be difficult to proceed with nuclear disarmament efforts under the current framework in which the countries possessing nuclear weapons are not participating.
For this reason, before the first meeting of the Parties was held, hibakusha and others were calling for the attendance of observers as the only country exposed to the war.
Prime Minister Kishida said, "We should start by advancing realistic nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation efforts based on a relationship of trust with the United States, our only ally."
Prime Minister Kishida would like to proceed with efforts while acting as a bridge between the two, through a framework in which nuclear-weapon states and non-nuclear-weapon states participate, and a review meeting on the NPT = Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.