Invitation to Hiroshima

The have-nots of nuclear weapons in the world announced their commitment to achieving the goal of the world free from threat of that inhumane war device. Hiroshima Declaration, delivered by twelve foreign ministers of non-nuclear weapon countries including Japan, Germany, Canada or Australia, invited all of the world political leaders to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to witness the consequences of a nuclear war. The people who knocked the cities down, and who are able to do that, will hear all of the words soon.

The declaration was a resolution of ministers meeting of Non-proliferation and Disarmament Initiative, which is one of the preparation frameworks for Review Conference of Non-Proliferation Treaty next year. Foreign Ministers discussed their commitment to urging further effort of reduction of nuclear weapons. Hearing from survivors of an atomic bomb in Hiroshima in August 1945, ministers reconfirmed the inhumanity of nuclear weapon that not only killed a great number of innocent people at a moment, but tormented survivors forever.

While welcoming bilateral disarmament measures by the United States and Russia, represented by new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Hiroshima Declaration expressed deep concern on new build-ups of nuclear arsenals. “We urge those not yet engaged in nuclear disarmament efforts to reduce their arsenals with the objective of their total elimination,” emphasized the declaration. In the interpretations of Japanese media, the words were delivered not only to North Korea and Iran, but to China. It reflected uneasiness of the host nation over growing uncertainty in security in Northeast Asia.

NPDI for the first time experienced the attendance of U.S. delegation as a guest. It is possible that U.S. tried to take a standpoint closer to nuclear elimination efforts with an intention of highlighting reluctance of other nuclear powers. However, President Barack Obama has still not shown the way to implement his words in Prague Speech in 2009, in which he proposed the world free from nuclear weapon. Nuclear weapons still exist as a resource of international power politics.

One survivor in Hiroshima told years ago that he did not hate America, or supposedly decided not to do that, but instead he hated war. The episode indicated that the fastest way to eliminate all nuclear weapons would be eliminating wars, since the world without war would need no nuclear weapon. In fact, waging all-out war is getting difficult as recently shown in Syria or Ukraine. Let imagination of warless world work.