Photo/Illutration Akira Kawasaki, a core member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, speaks at a news conference in Nagasaki on April 4. (Mami Okada)

NAGASAKI--An official of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is urging the Japanese government to attend a key meeting to oppose nuclear weapons in the world as an observer. 

The first meeting of state parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which Japan has not signed or ratified, will be held in Vienna from June 21 to June 23.

Akira Kawasaki, a core member of ICAN, said the session has strong relevance now, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The meeting is timely since we are now witnessing the real threat of the use of nuclear weapons,” Kawasaki said at a news conference here on April 4. “It is essential for Japan to attend the conference as an observer. Tokyo must communicate that it will never tolerate the use of nuclear weapons as a tool to fight in war.”

ICAN, an international nongovernmental organization, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.

Nonstate parties and private organizations are expected to be invited to attend the meeting as observers.

But Tokyo has remained reluctant to take part, given its dependence on the U.S. nuclear umbrella.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons went into force on Jan. 22, 2021. As of April 4, 60 countries have ratified it.

Opponents to nuclear weapons aim to raise the profile of the treaty’s first meeting to prompt more countries to join the pact.

Japanese experts are expected to submit a proposal for assistance programs to victims of radioactive fallout at the conference, based on the experiences of victims in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean and Fukushima.

(This article was written by Mami Okada and Emika Terashima.)

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