NGO Session Speech
Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba
NPT Review Conference
May 7, 2010
Mr. President, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor and privilege tosay a few words, representing the citizens of Hiroshima, our hibakusha in particular, and thenearly 4,000 city mayors from round the world who belong to Mayors for Peace.
2 weeks ago, the InterAction Council held its 28th Annual Plenary Meeting in Hiroshima,
where 15 former heads of state and government, as well as 19 experts and special guests
participated and discussed how humanity should realize a nuclear-weapon-free world.
In the Final Communiqué, they recommended with a keen sense of urgency that world leaders,
especially from nuclear-armed States, should visit Hiroshima to understand the suffering anddestruction caused by nuclear weapons and help to inform the public about the dangers of
nuclear weapons. And I know they had all of you in mind when they referred to world
leaders.
Nearly 4,000 mayors around the world agree. Cities and mayors do understand theimportance of remembering the past because most of us have experienced, at one time orother, the agonies, sufferings and pains caused by war or other kinds of tragedies. And one
solemn fact is that all of us, mayors and citizens, have come to the unanimous conclusion,“Never again!”In the words of our hibakusha, “No one else should ever suffer as we did.” Please note thatthe expression “no one” literally means everyone, including those whom we normally label asenemies. It is the spirit of reconciliation and not of retaliation.
Pope John Paul II sanctified this message. In the speech he delivered in 1981 in theHiroshima Peace Memorial Park, he asserted that “To remember the past is to commit us
oneself to the future.”
But that future will never come unless all of you, who have the power to decide, choose tocommence immediately negotiations leading to a nuclear-weapon-free world within a finite
period of time. Mayors for Peace believes that we can reach that goal by the year 2020.
The year 2020 is essential because it is the natural limit imposed by the average age of thehibakusha, which is now over 75. We are duty bound to abolish nuclear weapons while they
are still alive. We do owe it to them, who have shown us through their sufferings andsacrifices, that nuclear weapons are absolute evil.
It is my duty to point out that if we should deny this wish of the hibakusha, we are also
denying their other wish that no one else would suffer as they did as well.
Time is of the essence. As we all know so well, certain matters lose all meaning if you missthe crucial timing. It’s too late to feed a starving person after his death. And in our case,what matters is human survival.

1Consequently, the abolition of nuclear weapons should be at the top of the agenda of any
organization concerned with creating a better future or any future at all for that matter,
especially the United Nations.
In addition to the united voices of mayors, deeply rooted in their citizens’ hearts demanding a
nuclear-weapon-free world, prominent leaders of the world, who share the sense of urgency
with the hibakusha, are now creating the new tidal wave for disarmament. President Obama
has been working tirelessly to accomplish this goal. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon iscommitted to it. The Non-Aligned Movement(NAM) and many more states have voiced
their endorsement already in this Review Conference.
All that is required is the political will to rid the world of nuclear weapons within the lifetimeof the hibakusha. You have the power to forge that will. Please use that power for the sakeof all future generations. We, the citizens of 4,000 cities round the world, especially thehibakusha in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will do everything, and I mean literally everything in
our power, to work with you to make our wishes a reality.
Together we can abolish all nuclear weapons by 2020. Yes, we can do it!
much.

2

Thank you very