NEW YORK - The leading Japanese atomic bomb survivors' group on Tuesday denounced the "absolute evil" of nuclear weapons during a United Nations gathering that marked the world body's first-ever international meeting related to victims of atomic bombings and nuclear testing.
Masako Wada, the deputy secretary general of Nihon Hidankyo, which won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, said during the meeting in New York that her mother witnessed unspeakable horrors in the aftermath of the 1945 bombing of Nagasaki that left her feeling she had "lost her humanity."
The one-day International Meeting on Victim Assistance and Environmental Remediation, convened at the request of the U.N. General Assembly, asked representatives of civic groups affected by the use, creation and testing of nuclear weapons to provide testimony so the U.N. secretary general could report recommendations.
Nihon Hidankyo, known also as the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, has advocated for the rights of Japan's atomic bomb survivors.
Wada, who survived the U.S. atomic bombing at the age of 22 months, said, "We must not create any more global hibakusha," using the Japanese term generally reserved for atomic bomb survivors.
Wada was 2.9 kilometers from the hypocenter of the explosion in Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945. She said that during the U.S. occupation in postwar Japan, many atomic bomb survivors were never informed of the cause of the physical and mental ailments they experienced.
After temporary relief stations were closed, Wada said, "people died without knowing why they were dying."
Shigeru Umetsu, the deputy ambassador of Japan to the United Nations, told the meeting that his country -- the only one to have suffered atomic bombings in war -- has used its expertise to aid victims in areas affected by nuclear testing, while its efforts to organize visits to Hiroshima and Nagasaki have helped raise awareness about the effects of nuclear tests and atomic bombings.
"Promoting an accurate understanding of these realities is a starting point for all measures towards nuclear disarmament," Umetsu said.
The meeting came a day after the General Assembly met to commemorate the International Day against Nuclear Tests. During the General Assembly event, Izumi Nakamitsu, the U.N.'s disarmament chief, warned that, as states are mulling the possibility of new nuclear tests, the world "must never" see another nuclear explosion.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption by the General Assembly of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear test explosions and has been ratified by 179 states. However, it has still not entered into force as nine states -- including declared and undeclared nuclear weapons states -- on a list of required members have yet to ratify it.
