Photo/Illutration Akira Kawasaki, executive director of Japan Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, speaks at a symposium in Tokyo on April 20. (Yosuke Watanabe)

An anti-nuclear group set up in Japan this month said it will work to get the government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by 2030 at the latest.

Japan Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons was formed by the Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, a group of about 30 organizations and individuals.

The treaty, which took effect in 2021, bans the possession, use and development of nuclear weapons.

Japan has not joined the pact or sent an observer to two meetings of states parties.

“Let us join forces across party lines and regardless of ideology or belief toward the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons,” Terumi Tanaka, who was appointed representative director of the campaign, said in a speech at an inaugural symposium in Tokyo on April 20.

Tanaka, a hibakusha atomic bomb survivor, co-chairs the Japan Federation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization (Nihon Hidankyo), a member of the NGO network.

About 130 people took part in the symposium.

Setsuko Thurlow, a high-profile hibakusha from Hiroshima who now lives in Canada, sent a video message of encouragement, as did U.N. Under-Secretary-General Izumi Nakamitsu, who serves as high representative for disarmament affairs.

The campaign aims to forge a cross-party and cross-generational alliance to build momentum for abolishing nuclear weapons.

It plans to visit Diet members of all political parties, organize study sessions for citizens and hold international conferences.

An international conference is planned for next year to mark the 80th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The campaign, with a full-time staff, serves as the secretariat of the movement to call on the government to join the treaty.

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