Hiroshima mayor calls for nuclear-free world

Amid rising global tensions, the Japanese city of Hiroshima has called on world leaders to completely eliminate nuclear weapons. The city, marking the 81st anniversary of the US atomic bombings, expressed outrage that superpowers are still using nuclear weapons as a “tool of intimidation” in military conflicts.
“Underestimating the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and adopting a policy of using force to achieve one’s own prosperity creates a cycle of violent retaliation that could lead to another Hiroshima or Nagasaki,” Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said in a “peace declaration” read at the annual commemoration. The mayor issued the warning in the wake of the recent failure to reach a consensus at the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference and ongoing conflicts such as the US-Iran war and the Russia-Ukraine invasion.
He told policymakers, “You must understand that any use of nuclear weapons will cause terrible harm to humanity and that non-proliferation and disarmament are only possible through multilateral efforts. You should realize the need to lead by example.”
On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 a.m., a uranium bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima from the U.S. bomber Enola Gay. A minute of silence is observed at exactly 8:15 a.m. to commemorate the event. By the end of that year, an estimated 140,000 people had lost their lives in the attack.
With the regional security situation deteriorating, Japan is increasingly debating whether to reconsider its long-standing three nuclear policies—not to produce nuclear weapons, not to possess nuclear weapons, and not to allow nuclear weapons to enter its territory.
Prime Minister Sane Takaichi said at the event that Japan maintains its three nuclear policies. He said that as the only country to have experienced this… in light of the horror of nuclear destruction in war, it is Japan’s responsibility to continue efforts to build a world free of nuclear weapons.
The five-year NPT Review Conference held in New York last May ended without a unanimous decision for the third consecutive time. Mayor Matsui blamed political leaders who “blame others to justify their own behavior,” he said, adding that their actions were weakening the foundations of world peace.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in a message that “the very rules that helped prevent nuclear catastrophe are now under pressure.” In a message read by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Izumi Nakamitsu, Guterres called for dialogue and cooperation instead of conflict. As the number of atomic bomb survivors, or “hibakusha,” dwindles, the mayor of Hiroshima has urged young people to make the abolition of nuclear weapons a common policy for the international community. He also called on Japan to join the November review conference of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as an observer. Japan has not yet signed the treaty due to its dependence on the United States. Three days after the attack on Hiroshima, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9. Six days later, Japan surrendered, ending World War II.

Source: Japan Today