“Appeal of the Hibakusha”: more than 10,5 million signatures supporting call for the elimination of nuclear weapons

The handover of the “Appeal of the Hibakusha”: more than 10,5 million signatures supporting call for the elimination of nuclear weapons

October 14^th, 2019

On 11 October, H.E. Mr. Sacha Llorenti, President of the First Committee of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, and Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, met with Mr. Toshiki Fujimori, Assistant Secretary General of Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations), to receive the “Appeal of the Hibakusha”, a symbolic representation containing 10,517,872 signatures calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Nihon Hidankyo is the only nationwide Japanese independent organization of hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Mr. Fujimori hands over the “Appeal of the Hibakusha” to First Committee Chair H.E. Mr. Sacha Llorenti and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu

H.E. Mr. Sacha Llorenti expressed his gratitude for the effort Mr. Toshiki Fujimori and Nihon Hidankyo had undertaken towards the gathering of support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). H.E. Mr. Sacha Llorenti stressed that the cause to eliminate nuclear weapons is a benefit to the world.

The appeal was initially launched by the nine representatives of the Hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and issued in April of 2016, on the 60^th anniversary of the founding of the Japan Confederation of the A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations. The goal of the appeal is to collect hundreds of millions of signatures by 2020.

Photos and text by Leila Hmaidan