Statement by H.E. Mr. Mari AMANO

Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Japan

CD Plenary, August 7th, 2012

Mr. President,

Thank you for giving me the floor this morning.

67 years ago yesterday, on the 6th of August, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days later on the 9th of August another one was dropped on Nagasaki. As a result, a great number of people were killed and injured, and even today many of the survivors, whom we call Hibakusha, continue to suffer in pain. Since the bombings, the resolve of Japan to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons has been unshakeable. Nonetheless, every year when we commemorate those tragic events, we renew afresh our determination to rid the world of nuclear armaments. For my part, I also reaffirm my own determination and would like to once again appeal to the Conference on Disarmament, the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community, to overcome the current stalemate.

Mr. President,

In order to realize the total elimination of nuclear weapons, gaining the broad understanding and support of civil society and the people of the world is imperative. Already 67 years have passed since the bombings and the Hibakusha are now advancing more and more into old-age. Given this situation, Japan considers that conveying accurately the realities of nuclear weapons to the future generations, especially disarmament and non-proliferation education to the young, is immensely important. This will prevent the memories of those tragedies from fading away and contribute to maintaining international momentum towards nuclear disarmament. On this point, I am sure you will all recall the appeals by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Special Communicators for a World without Nuclear Weapons, and other Hibakusha, for the abolishment of nuclear weapons at the last year’s First Committee and this year’s First NPT Preparatory Committee. Japan will continue to take advantage of opportunities such as these to make the voices of the Hibakusha heard.

Mr. President,

Alongside its individual efforts, Japan is also actively cooperating with the United Nations on disarmament and non-proliferation education. This week on the 10th and the 11th, we will be holding in conjunction with the United Nations University a conference in Nagasaki called “the Global Forum on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education”.　At this meeting, we will provide to various actors involved in the field of education, including governments, civil society, international organizations, experts, and educators, an opportunity to share their perceptions on disarmament and non-proliferation education. We will also raise timely issues like the Middle East WMD Free Zone. We hope that by deepening discussions on issues such as this the participants will gain an appreciation of the current state of affairs in the region and consider practical approaches to resolving issues. Furthermore, from the end of this month the UN Disarmament Fellowship Programme will begin once again and the 25 fellows participating in this year’s programme will soon visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Under the Fellowship Programme, 761 diplomats from various countries have travelled to both cities. Japan plans to continue to support this valuable programme. Closer to us here, a permanent exhibition on the atomic bombings was established in the Palais des Nations last November. It is only a short walk from this plenary room and I encourage everyone to actively visit it.

Mr. President,

Japan aims to continue these efforts in support of nuclear disarmament. We must recognize, however, that as members of this distinguished body we all have a responsibility to respond to the voices of the Hibakusha and to carry on in our task of achieving a peaceful and secure world free of nuclear weapons. As such, the present 15 year hiatus in the CD is far too long. Japan believes in light of current international circumstances that rather than pursuing the elimination of nuclear weapons in one push, it is necessary to move forward in a steady, step-by-step manner. For that purpose, commencing negotiations on a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices is the next logical step, and it is the step that has been called for by the vast majority of the international community. We think the Conference on Disarmament is the right venue for those negotiations, but in the event that these do not occur, it stands to reason that we must consider other options. With only a short period of time remaining in this year’s session, Japan hopes that the Conference accelerates its work to overcome the impasse, and to that end Japan stands ready to exert its maximum efforts.

Thank you, Mr. President.