Dear friends,

The 2020 NPT Review Conference, which has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, will be held at the UN headquarters in New York on January 4-28, 2022.

Based on the UN Charter that makes it a rule to refrain from threat or use of force in international relations and warns against the diversion of resources to armaments, the NPT obligates non-proliferation for the non-nuclear weapon states and a halt to nuclear arms race and negotiations of nuclear disarmament for the nuclear weapon states.

In spite of strong resistance, the 2000 NPT Review Conference agreed by consensus, including the five nuclear weapons states, on their “unequivocal undertaking” to “accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals”; and in 2010, to “achieve the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons” was agreed, and all state parties accepted the pledge to make “special efforts” to establish a “framework” for this purpose. It is also a repeatedly confirmed goal to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East with the participation of all parties concerned, the region where tension and conflicts continue.

The success of the Conference will depend on whether or not all state parties, and the US, Russia, UK, France and China, will reaffirm the agreements on the elimination of nuclear weapons already reached in the past Review Conferences and fulfill them without any further delay.

The biggest impediment in the implementation of the treaty lies in the resistance of the nuclear weapon states and their allies that accept and rely on their nuclear arms, particularly on the US’s. While playing words of “elimination of nuclear weapons”, they do not even reduce nuclear weapons but continue development, buildup and deployment of them under the name of “modernization”, insisting that their nukes are “essential” for security of them and their allies.

In the US-led NATO member states, even the joint management and operation is conducted in the name of “nuclear sharing”, violating Article 2 of the NPT.

However, the world is drastically changing.

Against the backdrop of rising world public opinion, the UN held a negotiation conference in the first half of 2017 on measures to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons and adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) by the large majority of 122 to 1; the Treaty entered into force in January 2021 with the ratification of more than 50 countries. In the UN General Assembly, support for the resolution of the TPNW reached 128 countries.

We very much support and welcome the change and development of world public opinion. The opinion polls in many countries conducted after the adoption of the TPNW show that more than 70% - 80% of the public opinion want the accession of their countries to the Treaty. There are even a number of cases where, encouraged by the public support, opposition parties came to agree to put forward a policy to take part as observers in the first Meeting of State Parties to the TPNW in coming March in Vienna, with the view to their governments’ accession to the treaty. In Norway and Germany, a new coalition government emerged in such development.

Nuclear weapons pave the road to annihilation, and not serve “security” or “peace”. Continuing to rely on nuclear weapons goes against both the letter and spirit of the UN Charter, the UN General Assembly’s first resolution for the elimination of nuclear arsenals, and all agreements of the past NPT conferences, pledging to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons should be banned and abolished with no further delay.

Dear friends,

We will launch an action campaign for the period from January 4 to 28, 2022 for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, and organize nationwide actions across Japan, calling for the confirmation and implementation of the agreements to abolish nuclear weapons and achieve a world without nuclear weapons. This will be the action to take place in solidarity with all governments and civil society representatives that will stand for the same goal at the NPT Review Conference. We will send voices of the majority of the people, sovereign of nations to the international community, including the governments that oppose the ban and abolition of nuclear weapons.
　
On January 4, the first day of the Review Conference, and again on January 22, the first anniversary of the entry into force of the TPNW, we, together with the Hibakusha, will take to the streets in all major cities to resonate the desire of the Japanese people for the elimination of nuclear weapons and Japan’s accession to the TPNW by exhibiting the photo panels of Hiroshima and Nagasaki A-bombing and collecting signatures for the abolition of nuclear weapons throughout Japan.

In the same period we will also take action to convey the people’s demand to the governments of nuclear powers and Japan and urge them to fulfill their responsibilities. We hope that you will plan your action in your countries in solidarity with us. We would appreciate receiving your action plans, which would be a great encouragement for us.

December 10, 2021

Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo)