Text Fwd: Request for your endorsement to our ban nuclear weapons petition appeal

* Text informed by Park Jung-Eun on Jan. 20, 2011

일본 반핵운동단체, Gensuikyo 에서 모든 핵무기의 금지 서명 캠페인을 하고 있는데,
연명 요청과 함께 한국 평화,반핵단체에 뿌려달라는 요청이 와서 회람합니다.

회신은 antiatom@topaz.plala.or.jp 로 보내시면 됩니다.

박정은 드림
_____________________________________

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gensuikyo
Date: 2011/1/18
Subject: Request for your endorsement to our ban nuclear weapons petition appeal

[..] please spread this appeal to your network so that we can get more endorsements from Korean civil society. Thank you. (Yayoi)
..........................................................................
Please support our new signature campaign
“Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons”

Dear friends,

At the start of the New Year, we would like to extend our heartfelt
gratitude to you for your continued understanding of and cooperation with
our movement.

In order for the current worldwide momentum for the abolition of
nuclear weapons to develop further and bear fruit, we are planning to launch a new
signature campaign in February 2011, calling on all the governments of the
world to take action to totally ban nuclear weapons.

In May last year, the Review Conference of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), in which 189 States took part, agreed on the Final Document
aiming to “achieve peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”
and urged all governments to make special efforts to establish the necessary
“framework” to reach this goal. This was followed by the visit of U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who called for
achieving a “world without nuclear weapons” in the lifetime of the
Hibakusha in his speech at the Peace Memorial Ceremony of Hiroshima on
August 6.

On the other hand, we continue to witness attempts by some to justify
the use or threat of nuclear weapons in the name of “deterrence” or the
“nuclear umbrella”, and the danger of nuclear proliferation by others who,
in response to these attempts, seek to develop nuclear weapons of their own.

However, as the experiences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrate,
human survival and security cannot be ensured by nuclear weapons. The only sure
way to prevent the use of nuclear weapons is to abolish all nuclear weapons,
as confirmed by the NPT Review Conference.

Through the new signature campaign, we, anti-nuclear movement from the
only nation to have suffered the A-bomb devastation, will urge that the tragedy
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki never be repeated, and call on the governments of
all states to build on the past agreements made in the international arena
to take the bold course of starting negotiations for a treaty totally
banning all nuclear weapons.

We plan to announce the launch of this signature campaign
simultaneously in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on February 15, and in cooperation with all the
people who support this initiative, we aim to insure that this demand is
reflected in public opinion nationwide, and that it goes on to gain broad
support internationally. The text of the signature campaign, “Appeal for a
total ban on nuclear weapons” is attached at the end of this letter.
Please have a read through the appeal, and send your endorsement, and if
possible your message, to us by post, fax or email. The list and messages
of the initial endorsers is to be announced together with the launch of the
signature campaign on February 15. We are convinced that your endorsement
will help bring a great deal of support internationally.

This signature campaign will be promoted in solidarity with all the
campaigns sharing the same goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, including
the Mayors for Peace signature campaign led by the cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki and the “International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
(ICAN)”. Starting with the signature campaign in the wake of the Bikini
hydrogen bomb test of March 1954, the anti-A and H-Bomb movement of Japan
has, through massive signature drives, been at the forefront in bringing
about the coalescence of public opinion calling for a total ban on and
elimination of nuclear weapons. This new signature campaign will carry
forward this tradition and help ensure the achievement of a nuclear
weapon-free world.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons

In August 1945, two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
instantly turned the two cities into ruins and took the lives of about 210 thousand
people. Even now, more than 200,000 Hibakusha, or A-bomb survivors, are
carrying with them scars. Their tragedy should not be repeated anywhere on
earth.

The call for the elimination of nuclear weapons is becoming ever
widespread across the world. Citizens are taking actions, and many governments are
endeavoring to reach this goal. The surest guarantee against there being
another Hiroshima, or Nagasaki, is a total ban and the elimination of
nuclear weapons.

In May 2010, the 189 parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT), including the Nuclear weapons States, agreed “to achieve the peace and
security of a world without nuclear weapons”. Now is the time to act to
accomplish it.

We call on all governments to enter negotiations without delay on a
treaty banning nuclear weapons.

Endorser’s name:
Position:
Organization:
Message:

Sincerely yours,
Hiroshi TAKA
Secretary General
=============================================
Japan Council against A & H Bombs (GENSUIKYO)
2-4-4 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8464 JAPAN
phone: +81-3-5842-6034
fax: +81-3-5842-6033
Email: antiatom@topaz.plala.or.jp
URL: http://www.antiatom.org/
=============================================
박정은

참여연대 평화국제팀 팀장
People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)
http://www.peoplepower21.org
http://blog.peoplepower21.org/English