Preparations for the Global Summit on Nuclear Security and the NPT Treaty Conference...

On February 18, 2010, Japan's Cooperative Consumers Union (JCCU) announced that they will help support sending a delegation together with Nihon Hidankyo to go to New York in May to present their vow to abolish nuclear weapons at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.

The NPT has three main "pillars": non-proliferation, disarmament, and peaceful use. The Treaty represents the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon States. Opened for signature in 1968, the Treaty entered into force in 1970. A total of 187 parties have joined the Treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon States. But not everyone is satisfied with the progress since then.

The United Nations website used to have a special page devoted to disarmament, but it seems to have been discontinued: Error 404. Even pages about the history from 1970-1995 have been moved or deleted. I did find it here (Federation of American Scientists):

TREATY ON THE NON-PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

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Signed at Washington, London, and Moscow July 1, 1968
Ratification advised by U.S. Senate March 13, 1969
Ratified by U.S. President November 24, 1969
U.S. ratification deposited at Washington, London, and Moscow March 5, 1970
Proclaimed by U.S. President March 5, 1970
Entered into force March 5, 1970

The Federation of American Scientists launched a campaign on January 21, 2010 to create a nuclear weapon-free world:

One of the biggest challenges our world faces this century is the erosion of global security in a nuclear-armed world. The world’s combined stockpile of nuclear warheads remains at a high and frightening level – more than 24,000 – despite being two decades removed from the end of the Cold War. Of the 24,000 warheads, nearly 8,000 are considered operational, with a quarter of those on “high alert” – meaning they are ready to use at a moment’s notice. These weapons collectively have an explosive force equivalent to hundreds of millions of tons of TNT. In a post-9/11 world, the elimination of all nuclear weapons must be a top priority for America and the rest of the world.

The Review Conference in May 2010 is important for the nuclear non-proliferation regime, which is based on the treaty. The 2009 Session of the NPT Preparatory Committee failed to deliver an agreed recommendation for the upcoming Review Conference, but even so, it has been considered successful to define the main issues to be discussed during the meeting.

More should be done to help their work be successful.

Here in Japan, the JCCU delegates, consisting of approximately 100 members of Japanese Co-ops and 50 members from Nihon Hidankyo, are planning activities while in New York, including a panel exhibition about the atomic bombings and meeting high school students and other groups. The A-bomb sufferers will give lectures in schools in New York recounting their personal experiences of A-bombing.

Co-op delegates will also submit peace-message cards collected from Japanese Co-op members across the country: "These activities are to transmit the horrible reality of the nuclear bombing as well as to send a message wishing the elimination of nuclear weapons."

Meanwhile, regional Co-ops around Japan are organizing charity campaigns to support the delegates' activities, along with collecting signatures and conducting study meetings in 2010.

I hope Co-ops around the world will be inspired by these actions and help eliminate nuclear weapons from their countries. Actually, what I really pray for, is that this will be the top news every day this year. Why do all major news outlets continue to block out news about this crucial work?

To quote Mr. Terumi Tanaka, Secretary General of Nihon Hidankyo:

We request that the 2010 NPT Review Conference will set the path and goal to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, and start multilateral negotiations to this end. Hand in hand with the anti-nuclear peace movements in Japan and of the world, we pledge to do our utmost for the success of this NPT Conference.

Lastly, nearly 63 years have passed since the nuclear weapons were actually used. Both in Japan and internationally, the knowledge about this fact is fading among people. We ask all the governments of the world to educate their peoples about the inhumanity and devilish nature of nuclear weapons through learning the facts about the A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and build up the will to abolish them. Please listen to the witnesses of the Hibakusha, and pass on the Hibakusha's experiences to future generations as the legacy of the human community.

For preventing another Hibakusha, and for the survival of human beings:
No More Hiroshimas! No More Nagasakis!
No More Hibakusha! No More War!