ICAN chief at 80th Hiroshima commemoration calls for immediate action to eliminate nuclear weapons

Melissa Parke, the Executive Director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN, attended the 80th Hiroshima Peace Memorial Commemoration today alongside survivors of the first ever nuclear attack that killed more than 140,000 people, including 38,000 children.

The survivors, or hibakusha as they are known in Japan, whose average age is now 86, were almost all children in 1945 and have campaigned for decades to alert the world to the continuing existential threat that nuclear weapons pose and, 80 years on from the trauma they suffered, have renewed their demand for their abolition.

Following the ceremony, Ms Parke, who came to Hiroshima to pay tribute both to those who died and those who survived, said: “It is not possible to come to Hiroshima and attend these solemn commemorations without being moved as well as convinced of the urgent need for nuclear weapons to be eliminated. The hibakusha, who were awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize for their tenacious campaigning for the elimination of nuclear weapons deserve to see their work vindicated and to witness the end of these inhumane, indiscriminate weapons of total destruction in their lifetime. That means the nine nuclear-armed countries, most of which were represented here today, must heed their call to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and get rid of their arsenals.”

The TPNW, which came into force in 2021, bans nuclear weapons and all weapons-related activities. It is a clear solution to ending the nuclear threat as it provides a pathway under international law to fair and verifiable disarmament. Already, 98 countries have signed, ratified or acceded to it and more have indicated they will join soon.

A recent poll for Kyodo reported that 70% of hibakusha are worried nuclear weapons could be used again because of current geopolitical tensions. 70% were also critical of the Japanese government's disarmament policies, particularly its refusal to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the TPNW.