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72th Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony
－In July 2017, when 122 United Nations members adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, they demonstrated their unequivocal determination to achieve abolition.－
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On August 6 of the 72nd year since the atomic bombing, the Peace Memorial Ceremony organized by the City of Hiroshima was held in the city's Peace Memorial Park.
Approximately 50,000 people, including hibakusha and bereaved families, attended the Ceremony, praying for the reposed of the souls of the victims and eternal peace.
The Ceremony commenced at 8am.
First Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui and two representatives of the bereaved families dedicated three volumes of the Register of the Names of the Fallen Atomic Bomb Victims to the shrine in the Memorial Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims.
Over the past year, 5,530 people's deaths had been confirmed and their names were recorded in the Register.
This brings the total number of names recorded in the Register to 308,725 people, in 113 volumes.
This was followed by an address by the chairperson of Hiroshima City Council, and a dedication of flowers by various representatives.
At 8:15am, the time that the bomb was dropped, a representative of the bereaved families and the children's representative rang the Peace Bell, and all participants observed a minute of silence.
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Mayor Matsui then read out the Peace Declaration.
In the Declaration, the Mayor stated that the use of nuclear weapons is an act that must never be committed by humankind, and that the possession of nuclear weapons is nothing more than the spending of huge amounts of money to endanger the whole of humanity.
He appealed for as many people from around the world as possible to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, learn about what happened under the mushroom cloud, understand the wish of the hibakusha for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and then spread such empathy throughout the world.
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Mayor Matsui reads out the Peace Declaration
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Mayor Matsui also made a strong request to the Japanese government to seriously work toward bridging the gap between nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon states, aiming to promote ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that was adopted at the United Nations in July 2017.
He also called for the government to provide more compassionate support to the hibakusha, whose average age is now over 81, and to the many others who suffer physical and emotional effects of radiation, and to expand the designated "black rain areas".
Following the Peace Declaration, the children's representatives Naonari Takemasu and Nozomi Fukunaga read out the Commitment to Peace, where they spoke about the people who struggled to survive, never giving up as they worked towards recovery of the city, even while suffering from the deep emotional and physical scars caused by the bombing.
Next was a speech by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
He stated that in order to create a world that is truly free of nuclear weapons it is necessary for both nuclear-weapon and non-nuclear-weapon states to work together, and said that the Japanese government will work with both sides to encourage their participation.
He also said that the Japanese government will promote efforts to pass down the atomic bomb experience, beyond generations and national boundaries, and will make active contributions to ensure that the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to be held in 2020, the 50th anniversary of the Treaty's entry into force, will be a meaningful conference.
At the Ceremony this year, a message from the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. António Guterres was read out for the first time in Japanese by Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.
When speaking of the global campaign to abolish nuclear weapons that lead to the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the Secretary-General highly praised Hiroshima's message of peace and the heroic efforts of the hibakusha, saying that they have made an important contribution by strongly reminding the world of the devastating consequences of using nuclear weapons.
He also stated that states possessing nuclear weapons have a special responsibility to take concrete and irreversible steps toward nuclear disarmament, and appealed for all states to intensify their own efforts to this end.
The Ceremony was attended by representatives of bereaved families from 36 prefectures and ambassadors and representatives from 80 nations and the European Union, including the nuclear-weapon-states the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia.
The video of the Ceremony can be viewed on "ThecityofHiroshima" channel in YouTube.
The full text of the Peace Declaration can be accessed via the City of Hiroshima homepage» and is available in ten languages (Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish).
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| (General Affairs Division) |
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