The world’s first atomic bombing on Hiroshima marked its 76th year on Friday, as global leaders were pushed by a Japanese city mayor to come together to get rid of the nuclear weapons like they are united to fight against the pandemic.
The commitment from world leaders was gathered by Mayor Kazumi Matsui towards nuclear disarmament, just like how serious they are to wrestle the coronavirus regarded as a “threat to humanity” by the international community.
“Nuclear weapons, developed to win wars, are a threat of total annihilation that we can certainly end, if all nations work together,” according to Matsui. “No sustainable society is possible with these weapons continually poised for indiscriminate slaughter.”
On Aug. 6, 1945, 140, 000 people were killed when the United States dropped the world’s first-ever atomic bomb over Hiroshima. An additional 70, 000 people were killed three days later in Nagasaki as another bomb was dropped by the U.S.
On August 15, World War II ended with the surrender of Japan, also concluding the long years of combat in Asia.
But in the Cold War, counties reserved nuclear weapons and the draw still exists up to the present.
In January, with the push of the atomic bombing survivors or “hibakusha”, a global Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons went into effect. Nuclear powerhouses like Japan and the U.S., however, were not included in the more than 50 countries that ratified it.
Matsui reiterated his call for the treaty to be ratified and signed “immediately” by his own government in order to fulfill the demands of the survivors.
Present in the ceremony in Hiroshima was Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. While he has not mentioned the treaty, he said there is a need for a more “realistic” effort to connect the nuclear states to the non-nuclear ones through boosting the NPT, AP News reported.
Suga, in a news conference, said that it was not among his plans to sign the treaty,
“The treaty lacks support not only from the nuclear weapons states including the United States but also from many countries that do not possess nuclear arms,” he said. “What’s appropriate is to seek a passage to realistically promote the nuclear disarmament.”
