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Immmorality of nuclear weapons, power – former International Court of Justice President Mohammed Bedjaoui

Former ICJ head says Japan is world’s conscience against nuclear weapons, power  http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201507260018  July , 26, 2015 By ROY K. AKAGAWA/ AJW Staff Writer HIROSHIMA–Due to their bearing witness to the destruction of the atomic bomb and a nuclear disaster, Japan and its people are “the keepers and shepherds of Planet Earth.”

That was the key conclusion of the keynote address by former International Court of Justice President Mohammed Bedjaoui on July 25 at the International Symposium for Peace 2015 titled “The Road to Nuclear Abolition” held at the International Conference Center Hiroshima.

“Japan becomes the only country in the world to have been the victim of both military and civilian nuclear energy, having experienced the crazy danger of the atom, both in its military applications, destruction of life and its beneficial civilian use, which has now turned into a nightmare with the serious incidents of Fukushima,” he said.

He was referring to not only the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, but also the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011, triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

Bedjaoui was the president of the ICJ in 1996 when it issued an advisory opinion that marked an important turning point in the international movement to ban nuclear weapons.

Other participants took part in a panel discussion in which they presented their views on what the atomic bombings mean today. The event was sponsored by the Hiroshima municipal government, the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation and The Asahi Shimbun. Masako Ikegami, a professor of decision science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, said the passing of 70 years since the atomic bombings was sufficient time to consider the weapons in a new light.

“In humanitarian terms, nuclear weapons are unacceptable, and discussions have to move toward acknowledging their use as a crime against humanity,” she said.

Max McCoy, a university professor and writer from the United States, visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1986 as part of a project to bring U.S. journalists to Japan.

Showing the photos he took at that time and recalling the interviews he had with hibakusha, McCoy talked about the importance of passing on the experiences of those who survived the atomic bombing.

“We need to remember the testimony of the hibakusha and to know the truth of what (the atomic bombings) were like,” McCoy said.

The symposium began with guest speaker Dai Tamesue talking about what would be needed to maintain peace.

“I believe a major problem arises when an atmosphere develops in society which makes it difficult to speak up in a different way from the vast majority,” Tamesue, a retired athlete, said.

He was asked to speak because he is a third-generation hibakusha. Tamesue, who was the first Japanese track athlete to win a medal at the world track and field championships, was born and raised in Hiroshima. His grandmother was in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city.

July 27, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, Religion and ethics