nuclear-news

“Hibakusha” thinking will lead us to nuclear free world

Citizens need hibakusha ‘minds’ To attain a genuine nuclear-free world, we should think like A-bomb survivors: Peru diplomat 11 May 14, JAPAN TIMES,  NEW YORK – THE WORLD MUST FULLY UNDERSTAND THE HUMAN TOLL OF THE TWO ATOMIC BOMBS DROPPED ON JAPAN TO END NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION AROUND THE GLOBE, THE CHAIRMAN OF A U.N. NUCLEAR CONFERENCE SAID FRIDAY.

“I think the only way to get the world free of nuclear weapons is if every citizen of this world becomes a hibakusha in the mind,” Enrique Roman-Morey, the chairman of the final meeting before the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference, told reporters.

The Peruvian diplomat used the Japanese word to describe the A-bomb survivors.

Having been born right after the bombs exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, he emphasized the importance of listening to the personal stories of rapidly aging survivors in order to understand the humanitarian cost of the nuclear devices.

“I have been there (to Japan) and I have listened to the hibakusha,” he explained.

The issue of recognizing the humanitarian and environmental cost of the atomic bombs generated discussion in the two-week preparatory meeting that ended Friday………..

While Roman-Morey admits the goal of totally eliminating nuclear weapons is a difficult one to realize, he is passionately pursing that end by striving to work with countries to press for qualitative, not just quantitative, disarmament.

“The only thing that I can say is that we should never stop fighting (for total elimination),” he said.

Drawing on his roots as the son of a military man growing up in the post-World War II era, he still remembers his father’s words “never again” (to another Hiroshima) and the sentiment seems to guide him to this day. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/10/national/citizens-need-hibakusha-minds/#.U3GBJ4FdWik

May 12, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, weapons and war