Statement by H.E.
Mr. Yoshiki MINE
Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Head of the
Delegation of Japan
to the
Conference on Disarmament
At the First
Committee
of the 61st
Session of the General Assembly
Disarmament and
Non-Proliferation Education
19 October 2006, New York
Madam Chair,
Distinguished
delegates,
First of all I would
like to express my appreciation for today’s NGO presentations on various
disarmament issues. Japan highly
values the activities by civil society, and continues to closely cooperate with
NGOs. Today I would like to take this
opportunity to touch upon disarmament and non-proliferation education, as NGOs play
a significant role in this field.
Japan places great
importance on disarmament and non-proliferation education, and we are making various
efforts in accordance with the 2002 UN Study on Disarmament and Non-proliferation
Education. Consequently, it is my great pleasure
to introduce some examples of our endeavors in this field.
Madam Chair,
To start with, in
line with paragraph 13 of the recommendations of the UN Study, every year since
1983 the UN Disarmament Fellowship Program has been invited to Japan, resulting
in a total of 620 participants to date.
This year, the fellows, who are with us during the First Committee, recently
completed their visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which I hope
helped to provide new insight into the reality of atomic bombings.
In addition to the
UN Fellowship Program, every year since 1989 Japan has also sponsored a UN
Conference on Disarmament Issues in a different Japanese city. This has provided a valuable opportunity for
disarmament experts from around the world to exchange views, and enhance
awareness of the importance of disarmament at a regional level. This year the Conference, in which I was also
a participant, was held in Yokohama
from 21 to 23 August. I believe that the
extensive discussions at the Conference, with the participation of various
experts, greatly increased the awareness among public citizens of disarmament
and non-proliferation issues.
Madam Chair,
Since 2002 Japan has also invited prominent educators on
disarmament and non-proliferation education to lecture in Japan. This year, we invited Mr. Zanders,
director of the BioWeapons Prevention Project, who
gave a lecture on the importance of biochemical weapons disarmament, which
enhanced awareness of the risk of biological and chemical weapons among the
general public, journalists and academia before the upcoming BWC Review
Conference.
The UN Study also
encourages in paragraph 17 of its recommendations the publication of materials
on disarmament and non-proliferation. Since
2002, Japan
has been publishing annually its White Paper on disarmament and
non-proliferation in Japanese, as well as in English from 2003. Recently we published the new English version,
which I have put on the table at the back of this room for interested
delegations.
Madam Chair,
Not only have we
been promoting awareness among the adult population of Japan, but also
the youth. In 2005 the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs set up a new website designed to improve understanding on
disarmament and non-proliferation issues for primary, junior and high school
students. Although it is only in
Japanese, you can access the site at http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/naruhodo/index.html.
I have also been
informed there is a project currently underway to hold a Nagasaki International
Film Festival on Atomic Bombs in August next year, where all kinds of motion
picture arts such as films, dramas, animations and TV documentaries regarding
atomic bombings from all over the world will be displayed. The UN Study also advocates in paragraph 23
such methods for disarmament and non-proliferation education. I sincerely hope this event will be a great
success.
Madam Chair,
As recommended by paragraph
28 of the UN Study, the staff colleges of Japan’s self-defense agency and
National Institute for Defense Studies have their own curriculum for disarmament
and non-proliferation. As part of
inter-agency cooperation, Foreign Ministry officials visit those colleges and
give lectures on such issues.
Japan urges the Member
States, as encouraged in this year’s draft resolution on disarmament and
non-proliferation education, to continue applying the recommendations of the UN
study. Furthermore, as Japan has just done,
the Member States, as encouraged in paragraph 33 of the recommendations, should
include in their remarks to the First Committee information on the results of implementing
the recommendations of the UN study.
Thank you.