Khaldon Azhari

TOKYO: With the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons coming into force on Jan. 22, campaigners in Tokyo welcomed the fact that nuclear weapons will finally be outlawed under international law, and urged the Japanese government and the new US administration of President Joe Biden to join the treaty.

Akira Kawasaki, a campaigner of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for its efforts that led to the adoption of the nuclear ban treaty, told Arab News Japan he hopes the Biden administration “will recommit to the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons as former president Barak Obama did.”

The treaty, which describes nuclear weapons as inhumane and bans their development, possession, and use, has been signed by 86 countries and ratified by 51. Japan – the only country to have experienced the use of nuclear weapons during wartime – didn’t sign the treaty. Other nuclear weapon states are not part of it.

“The nuclear weapons are a real threat for humanity, and we hope the U.S. will eventually join the treaty and the lead up to it, there are many nuclear disarmament steps needed like the agreement with Russia, Iran and denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” Kawasaki said. “We look forward to work with (Biden) and ICAN will spare no efforts for the genuine nuclear disarmament process of the U.S.”

Meanwhile, Masako Wada, Assistant Secretary General of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) told Arab News Japan: “Iran and Israel must maintain negotiations and not only think of their own interests. We also hope the Middle East region will be free from nuclear weapons.”

Wada was only 1 year and 8 months young when the atomic bomb hit Nagasaki.

The hibakusha, or survivors of the atomic bombing, have for years testified about their experiences in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and called for the prohibition and abolition of nuclear weapons. More than 12 million people have signed the Hibakusha Appeal, the international petition for the eradication of nuclear weapons led by the survivors.