30 April 2010
Mayor of Hiroshima says Now is the Time to end nuclear weapons
Endorsing a campaign by UK Churches, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba of
Hiroshima has stressed the crucial role of British citizens in
ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
The Mayor's statement came just days before the Non-Proliferation
Treaty Review Conference, which will take place May 3 to 28 in New
York. He said, "There is a danger that we consider nuclear weapons
to be simply an unfortunate fact of life we can do nothing about.
This would be a grave mistake. Now is the time to map out the road
to global zero. At the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference
our governments must clearly demonstrate their stated commitment to
the elimination of all nuclear weapons."
The campaign, entitled Now is the Time, has invited people to sign
an online petition (at www.endnuclearweapons.org.uk) calling on all
governments to demonstrate their commitment to a nuclear
weapons-free world at the forthcoming conference. The Churches are
pressing for governments to put all bomb-grade material under
international control and commit to making the use and possession
of nuclear weapons illegal through a new Nuclear Weapons
Convention.
Steve Hucklesby, Policy Adviser for the Methodist Church in
Britainsaid "Presidents Obama and Medvedev have signed an agreement
to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear warheads. This reflects a
growing public desire to see the brakes come off multilateral
disarmament negotiations. We hope that the Review Conference will
be an opportunity for our voices to be heard through the many
non-governmental organisations that specialise in these
matters."
Mayor Akiba said, "I am delighted that Churches in the UK have
contributed to the call for governments to commit to a world free
of nuclear weapons. I hope the Churches in the UK will do
everything in their power to mobilize their congregations to let
the government know that they are ready to live in a world free of
nuclear weapons." In a letter to the British Methodist Church, he
added that "Eliminating nuclear weapons from the world will be one
of humanity's greatest achievements".
The alliance includes the Church of England, the Church of
Scotland, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain,
the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the United Reformed
Church, the International Affairs Department of the Catholic
Bishops Conference of England and Wales, the Catholic Bishops
Conference of Scotland and the Archbishop of the Church in
Wales.
Representatives of the World Council of Churches will be attending
the NPT Review Conference, and will present the campaign's petition
to the UK delegation to the conference.
In the sixty-five years since Hiroshima experienced the atomic
bombing that made it synonymous with the disastrous effects of
nuclear weapons, the city has continued to appeal for their
abolition. Through Mayors for Peace, Hiroshima is working with
3,680 other cities to promote the 2020 Vision - a campaign for the
abolition of nuclear weapons by the year 2020.