Press releases Archive LAST UPDATE  May 30, 2009
November 5, 2008 Peace Boat Hibakusha Project Venezuela Declaration for Latin America
It has been 63 years since the nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both historically appalling events for the level of human agony and massive destruction caused. Within the framework of the “Global Voyage for a Nuclear free World – Peace Boat Hibakusha Project”, 102 Hibakusha (survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings) will visit the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as well as 22 other cities on five continents, with the aim of sharing their experiences and conveying the universal message of the importance of abolishing nuclear weapons, so that such catastrophes will not be repeated again. It is from this perspective that we are joining the call of global civil society in support of a new Convention on Nuclear Weapons.

The Hibakusha demand for “No more Hibakusha, No more Hiroshima/Nagasaki, No more War” is embodied in Article 9 of the pacifist Japanese Constitution. With this article, Japan renounced war and the threat or resort thereof as means to settle international disputes, pledging also not to maintain armed forces or any other war potential. The spirit of this Article thus goes against the dependence on nuclear arms as part of national security policies, and calls for all nuclear weapons to be abolished and outlawed.

The countries of Latin America have been world disarmament pioneers since 1967, when their Governments signed the Tlatelolco Treaty, effectively creating the world's first nuclear-free continent. The continuity and aplicability of this policy has been reiterated on many occasions ever since, as in the case of the Union of South American Nations (USAN) Constitutive Treaty, which proposes the establishment of “a balanced and just multipolar world, where the sovereign equality of States and a culture of Peace are paramount, in a world free from nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction”. All this gives Latin America the legitimacy and moral authority to push for the erradication of the nuclear menace on the global level.

At the international level as well, the voices of the Hibakusha and the common position reached on the necessity to completely abolish nuclear weapons appear both in the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, publicly expressing the illegality of nuclear weapons, and in the strong commitment included in the Joint Communique resulting from the 2000 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). It is time now to turn our back on a nuclear-dependent world and to move forward to the abolition of nuclear weapons and a world of peace.

A multipolar world and a truly democratic global community can not, must not and does not want to remain under the threat posed by nuclear weapons, whose eventual use remains the monopoly and unilateral attribution of the few against the many, and a unilateral form of bullying undermining democracy and International Law.

Based on the forementioned principles, we call on all Latin American Governments to:

Adopt a common foreign policy and concrete measures in all Member States to the Union of South American Nations, in order to promote progressive universal disarmament and condemn the acquisition, stockpiling, development and use of nuclear weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction, based on and for the realization of the principle enshrined in the preamble of the USAN Constitutive Treaty.

Relaunch and intensify debates and actions pointing toward the erradication of nuclear weapons at international organizations such as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Organization of American States (OAS), as a paramount measure to ensure the principles of Non-Intervention, Multilateralism and the realization of a truly democratic international community.

Likewise, we call on the Latin American and Japanese Governments to:

Do everything in their power for the upcoming 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to be carried out successfully and for all nuclear States to respect their disarmament commitments as set forth in the said Treaty. Moreover, we stress the view that the NPT must not be limited to mantaining the current status and rights of the recognized Nuclear States, but should be used as the stepping stone it is meant to be, to bring about the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.

Commit themselves to a mediation-oriented Foreign Policy, lobbying the concerned nuclear powers into disarmament, this being the only viable strategy for preserving national security and international stability. This implies in turn the rejection of the principle of nuclear deterrence and the use of nuclear weapons as legitimate part of the national security policies of any country.

We also make a call on the Japanese Government to:

Make the initiative of pursuing and signing a Nuclear Weapons Convention part of its Foreign Policy, builiding upon its unique role as the only nation on earth to have ever suffered nuclear bombings on its cities.

Acknowledge the potential of Article 9 as an international peace mechanism, using it also in the promotion of a Nuclear-free world.

Actively promote through its Foreign Policy the establishment of a Northeast Asia Nuclear-Free Zone.

We recognise also that the endeavours and undertakings of civil society are of extreme importance in the creation of a peaceful nuclear-free world in the future, and with this in mind we call for the strengthening of cooperation and solidarity between civil society movements in both Japan and Latin America to develop joint initiatives, including the following:

To promote peace and disarmament education, including the passing of the Hibakusha's experiences on to present and future generations.

To support the expansion of the Mayors for Peace network, and to promote its “Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol” for the establishment of a Nuclear-free world by 2020.

To participate in and strengthen international and civil society networks making efforts to realize disarmament and conflict prevention, such as the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC).

To keep up their civil society activism for the universalization of the non-violent principles enshrined in Article 9 of the pacifist Japanese Constitucion.

We stress the fact that militarization and nuclear military spending dreadfully affect development, and that it is of the utmost importance to redirect financial resources being spent on the military to support policies in harmony with human development, which will in turn result in the elimination of one of the fundamental causes of arms races and nuclear proliferation. Both the Latin American countries and Japan share the responsibility to promote this global shift from military power to peace and nuclear abolition.

The universal nuclear abolition message of the Hibakusha should be paid heed to today's world. We avail ourselves of this opportunity to, once more, express our strong determination to build upon the tragic experiences and the hopes for peace of the Hibakusha and develop concrete actions towards nuclear abolition and peace, as the legacy of the Hibakusha to the global community.

La Guaira, November 5th, 2008