Hiroshima Declaration

As a fruit of the first meeting in a memorial city of nuclear war, Foreign Ministers and Secretary of State of Group 7 agreed on a document that promised steps forward to the world without nuclear weapons. Hiroshima Declaration recognizes devastative consequence of nuclear war and requires every nation, with or without nuclear power, to make effort to eliminate nuclear weapons. However, they failed to realize inhumanity of nuclear weapons, which Japan insisted.

Hiroshima Declaration starts with recognition of significance of the meeting itself. “We emphasize the importance of our meeting in Hiroshima seventy-one years after World War II, which unleashed unprecedented horror upon the world,” says the declaration. “The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki experienced immense devastation and human suffering.”

The environment for nuclear disarmament or anti-proliferation is getting complicated and serous. While the declaration requires achieving the world without nuclear weapons for international security, “this task is made more complex by the deteriorating security environment in a number of regions, such as Syria, Ukraine, and, in particular by North Korea’s repeated provocations.” G7 Foreign Ministers named three major threats as nuclear insecurity.

So, what are they doing? Firstly, G7 countries will strength their commitment to non-proliferation regime. They required some nations out of Non-proliferation Treaty unconditional participation and supported full implementation of three pillars of NPT – non-proliferation, disarmament and peaceful use of nuclear energy. They also urged all countries to sign and ratify Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Russia, keeping out of G8 regime, criticized United States as not having ratified CTBT.

Secondly, G7 demands all countries effort for nuclear disarmament. “Further progress – whether unilateral, bilateral or multilateral – toward a world without nuclear weapons, can only be achieved if we take a determined, realistic and incremental approach, while enhancing international security,” the declaration describes.

And thirdly, G7 will generate interstate communication for restricting nuclear transfer. “It is essential to continue to strengthen national export controls on sensitive goods and technologies in order to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to states and non-state actors,” says the declaration. They required implementation of international export control regime.

Chine expressed its frustration on G7 meeting as soon as it was finished. Requirement of transparency was broadly recognized as targeting China. G7 also has to be serious about a fact that non-nuclear world cannot be achieved with nuclear China.