2006 Hiroshima Peace Declaration
The following text is of Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba’s 2006 Hiroshima Peace Declaration:
Radiation, heat, blast and their synergetic effects created
a hell on Earth. Sixty-one years later, the number of nations
enamored of evil and enslaved by nuclear weapons is increasing.
The human family stands at a crossroads. Will all nations
be enslaved? Or will all nations be liberated? This choice
poses another question. Is it acceptable for cities, and especially
the innocent children who live in them, to be targeted by
nuclear weapons?
The answer is crystal clear, and the past sixty-one years
have shown us the path to liberation.
From a hell in which no one could have blamed them for choosing
death, the hibakusha set forth toward life and the future.
Living with injuries and illnesses eating away at body and
mind, they have spoken persistently about their experiences.
Refusing to bow before discrimination, slander, and scorn,
they have warned continuously that "no one else should
ever suffer as we did." Their voices, picked up by people
of conscience the world over, are becoming a powerful mass
chorus.
The keynote is, "The only role for nuclear weapons is
to be abolished." And yet, the world's political leaders
continue to ignore these voices. The International Court of
Justice advisory opinion handed down ten years ago, born of
the creative action of global civil society, should have been
a highly effective tool for enlightening and guiding them
toward the truth.
The Court found that "… the threat or use of nuclear
weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international
law," and went on to declare, "There exists an obligation
to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations
leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict
and effective international control."
If the nuclear-weapon states had taken the lead and sought
in good faith to fulfill this obligation, nuclear weapons
would have been abolished already. Unfortunately, during the
past ten years, most nations and most people have failed to
confront this obligation head-on. Regretting that we have
not done more, the City of Hiroshima, along with Mayors for
Peace, whose member cities have increased to 1,403, is launching
Phase II of our 2020 Vision Campaign. This phase includes
the Good Faith Challenge, a campaign to promote the good-faith
negotiations for nuclear disarmament called for in the ICJ
advisory opinion, and a Cities Are Not Targets project demanding
that nuclear-weapon states stop targeting cities for nuclear
attack.
Nuclear weapons are illegal, immoral weapons designed to
obliterate cities. Our goals are to reveal the delusions behind
"nuclear deterrence theory" and the "nuclear
umbrella," which hold cities hostage, and to protect,
from a legal and moral standpoint, our citizens' right to
life.
Taking the lead in this effort is the US Conference of Mayors,
representing 1,139 American cities. At its national meeting
this past June, the USCM adopted a resolution demanding that
all nuclear-weapon states, including the United States, immediately
cease all targeting of cities with nuclear weapons.
Cities and citizens of the world have a duty to release the
lost sheep from the spell and liberate the world from nuclear
weapons. The time has come for all of us to awaken and arise
with a will that can penetrate rock and a passion that burns
like fire.
I call on the Japanese government to advocate for the hibakusha
and all citizens by conducting a global campaign that will
forcefully insist that the nuclear-weapon states "negotiate
in good faith for nuclear disarmament." To that end,
I demand that the government respect the Peace Constitution
of which we should be proud. I further request more generous,
people-oriented assistance appropriate to the actual situations
of the aging hibakusha, including those living overseas and
those exposed in "black rain areas."
To console the many victims whose names remain unknown, this
year for the first time we added the words, "Many Unknown"
to the ledger of victims' names placed in the cenotaph. We
humbly pray for the peaceful repose of the souls of all atomic
bomb victims and a future of peace and harmony for the human
family.
Tadatoshi Akiba
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima
Go to the Hiroshima
Peace Site and read declarations from previous ceremonies.
Posted August 8, 2006