Citizens that include atomic bomb survivors are traveling to New York to advocate for a world without nuclear weapons at a meeting of signatories of a nuclear ban treaty.

The Japanese government, however, is sending no representatives to the meeting.

Toshiyuki Mimaki, a hibakusha atomic bomb survivor from Hiroshima, will attend the second meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which will open at the United Nations headquarters on Nov. 27.

“I want to thoroughly convey Hiroshima’s thoughts and feelings so that I can fulfill my responsibility as a hibakusha,” Mimaki said.

The 81-year-old is one of two representatives to be dispatched by the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, a national organization of hibakusha.

“I hope the conference will achieve progress toward a world without nuclear weapons,” he said.

UNDER THE NUCLEAR UMBRELLA

Japan, the only nation to have experienced atomic bombings, will not participate in the conference even as an observer after it skipped the inaugural signatories meeting last year.

While Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is said to have made nuclear disarmament his life’s work, Japan--a U.S. ally that depends on its nuclear umbrella--has not joined the treaty that bans the possession, use and development of nuclear weapons.

In a statement submitted to the Foreign Ministry on Nov. 16, representatives from 14 anti-nuclear and peace organizations called on the government to send its representatives to the New York conference but failed to receive a positive response.

“It is only the government that is not participating from Japan,” said Akira Kawasaki, co-chair of Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, at a news conference the same day.

The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the governor of Hiroshima and some members of the Diet will visit New York for the meeting.

Other attendees include doctors, lawyers, members of the religious community and university and high school students.

Yukino Yamaguchi, a third-generation atomic bomb survivor, plans to use social media and podcasting to connect discussions at the conference and related movements to civil society.

The 21-year-old accompanied hibakusha from Nagasaki who toured three U.S. cities this month to share their experiences and thoughts with locals.

Yamaguchi said she decided to focus on “information dissemination” in New York.

After the U.S. tour, she felt that the content of the conference should be conveyed in a more easily understandable manner even to those who have not been involved in peace activities.

NO PATH IN SIGHT

At a Lower House plenary session on Nov. 20, Kishida acknowledged that it is “an important treaty that can be seen as a way to a world without nuclear weapons,” but stated, “We cannot yet see a path toward that way out.”

The G-7 Leaders’ Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament, a document announced at the Group of Seven summit held in Hiroshima in May, referred to the need for nuclear deterrence, which relies on nuclear weapons to discourage enemy attacks.

Kishida has emphasized that realistic steps must be made one by one toward the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.

He said the only realistic path to the goal is to maintain the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) regime, but there is no sign that nuclear weapon states will relinquish their vested interests.

Even the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s junior coalition partner suggested the government take a more proactive approach, however.

“It is important for Japan to participate as an observer and pursue its own role,” said Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of Komeito.

Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which are also under the U.S. nuclear umbrella, have not joined the treaty, but Germany participated in the signatories meeting last year as an observer.

According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), 97 states have signed or ratified the treaty.

But the treaty’s effectiveness has been called into question because nuclear weapon states have not acceded to it.

The five-day conference will be held amid a climate of heightened regional tensions in the Middle East, with Russia continuing its invasion of Ukraine and using nuclear threats, and China continuing its nuclear capability buildup behind closed doors.

Members will discuss the status of implementing a 50-point action plan adopted at the first signatories meeting.

The conference is expected to reiterate opposition to both nuclear deterrence and nuclear sharing, an arrangement under which allies deploy nuclear powers’ atomic weapons in their territories.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which has not yet come into force, will be another topic of discussions.

Members plan to urge eight nations--including China, North Korea, Egypt, Iran, Israel and the United States--to ratify the treaty and to call on Russia, which has withdrawn its ratification, to reverse its decision.

(This article was compiled from reports by Hiroki Tohda in New York, Anri Takahashi, Asako Hanafusa, Hayashi Yanagawa and Emika Terashima.)