Arab News Japan

TOKYO: The group of senior former leaders known as the ‘Elders’ held a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday as part of their campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons, but they also said that the use of conventional weapons, as seen in the destruction of Gaza, is just as damaging.

“There are more than 140 armed conflicts in the world today, and the violation of human rights and the destruction of civil society in these conflicts has increased tremendously,” former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in answer to a question from Arab News Japan. “The conflicts are getting worse and worse. As Elders, we are also permanently calling for these conflicts to stop.”

“The fact that we are here promoting the abolition of nuclear weapons in no way means that we are not very concerned with what is happening in Gaza, which is something that, from every perspective, is a tremendous tragedy.”

In response to a question from Arab News Japan, former Prime Minister of Mongolia Elbegdorj Tsakhia said it is possible to “see our world without nuclear weapons. We can share our world in our lifetime with no more Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki, no more Gaza. If you have nuclear weapons, you will not address that conventional weapons can destroy places, as we see in Gaza.”

Santos said the Elders were also working “behind the scenes” on the issue of Iran, which, he said, “has a lot of ramifications.” He added that the United States and President Trump “cannot force Iran to do everything that their Israeli friends want us to do.” The Elders, as a group of experienced leaders, are working to facilitate dialogue and negotiation between the involved parties, aiming to find a peaceful resolution to the Iran issue.

“But the time is ripe,” he stated, adding that Arab countries are supporting an agreement that would have Iran, for example, committed to not producing nuclear weapons while getting something in return, such as the lifting of sanctions. “It’s logical, it’s common sense,” Santos said. “That is what leaders, good leaders, need to understand and exercise; there is an opportunity, let’s take it.”

The Elders’ visit to Hiroshima was a poignant moment of respect and remembrance. They marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and paid their respects to the victims of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Former President Santos explained that the Elders’ decision to hold their board meeting in Hiroshima was not just a gesture of respect to the victims, but a call to action. He emphasized the urgent need for a global dialogue to control the escalating risk of a nuclear war, reassuring the audience of the Elders’ proactive stance.

He noted that the time of the Doomsday Clock in Washington is now at 89 seconds, “the closest it has been in 77 years, and one of the reasons is because they see very clearly the risk of a nuclear war increasing at a very frightening rate.”

The Doomsday Clock, maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, is a symbolic representation of the world’s proximity to a global catastrophe, with its current position underscoring the urgent need for nuclear disarmament.

Japan, it was pointed out, has not signed up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (TPNW), and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo suggested that with the United States dismantling historic alliances, Japan needs to consider its position “to decide to protect the Japanese people and be a more engaged actor in the movement towards the abolition of nuclear weapons.”

The Elders are an independent organization of former heads of state founded in 2007 by Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to work for peace, justice, human rights, and sustainability.

Members include Ban-Ki Moon, the former UN Secretary-General, and Nobel Peace Laureate Denis Mukwege.