April 29, 2014 (Tuesday) 15:00 United Nations Headquarters
NGO Session
Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 NPT Review Conference

NGO Session Speech by the President of Mayors for Peace/Mayor of Hiroshima
Good afternoon His Excellency Enrique Roman-Morey, Chair of the Third Session,
distinguished representatives of State Parties and members of NGOs gathered here
today.My name is Kazumi Matsui. As mayor of the atomic-bombed city Hiroshima, andpresident of Mayors for Peace, I would like to convey to you the earnest wishes ofHiroshima for peace, and express our high expectations for your collective efforts toadvance the cause towards world free from nuclear weapons.
69 years ago, at 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, a single atomic bomb was dropped onto thehuman population of Hiroshima from 9,600 meters above ground. 43 seconds later, it
exploded at around 600 meters above ground. At the time of bombing, 350,000 people werein the city.The vast majority were civilians, including small children, students, and theelderly. A tremendous amount of lethal radiation released by instantaneous nuclear fission
assaulted Hiroshima mercilessly.According to research by the Atomic Bomb Disease
Institute, Nagasaki University, a single exposure to 7,000 millisieverts of radiation results in
a 100% death rate. In Hiroshima, people at a distance of 100 meters from the hypocenter of
the atomic bombing were exposed to 435,000 millisieverts, more than 60 times the lethal
dose. Extreme heat rays also assaulted people and structures, and the surface temperatureon the ground rose to 3,000-4,000 degrees Celsius. A fierce blast with wind speeds of up to440 meters/second spread outward from the hypocenter and in approximately 10 seconds,reached all the areas of the city. This enormous outburst of lethal radiation and heat rays,
and the blast from the bomb reduced the entire city to ruins.
On the day of the bombing alone, several tens of thousands of people died, and many
more continued to die in days and months later. Just one atomic bomb destroyed andscorched 70,000 buildings, or 92% of the buildings of the city, and reduced to ashes 40%of the city areas, not including forested areas and fields. By the end of 1945, 40% of thepopulation, or 140,000 people, had lost their precious lives.
The atomic bomb irreversibly changed the lives of those who barely survived.The agony of
not being able to rescue family members while watching them being burnt to death in frontof them, orphans who lost their families and houses, and radiation effects made it hard formany to secure employment and marriage. With the torture of aftereffects and social
discrimination, they dropped countless tears. Even now, 69 years after the atomic bombing,aftereffects such as leukemia and cancercontinue to threaten the health of the manysurvivors.
Nuclear weapons used by the leaders of the time indiscriminately stole the lives of innocent
people, permanently altering the lives of survivors, and stalking their minds and bodies tothe end of their days. Such weapons are the ultimate inhumane weapons and an absoluteevil.The atomic bomb survivors, who know the hell of an atomic bombing, are still
continuously fighting for abolition so that no policy-makers will ever use such weapons
again.
Even now, after a quarter of a century has passed since the end of the Cold War, there still
exist more than 17,000 nuclear warheads around the world. We are still living under the riskof destruction through nuclear weapons. The City of Hiroshima and the 6,000 cities from158 countries and regions that comprise Mayors for Peace, in collaboration with the United
Nations and like-minded NGOs, seek to abolish nuclear weapons by 2020 and campaign
for the early achievement of a nuclear weapons convention.
Mayors for Peace welcomes that the global community is finally focusing on the harshly
inhumane reality of nuclear weapons, and discussion is proceeding also at the governmental
level. This includes the joint statement at the First Committee of the United Nations
General Assembly last October, and the holding of the Second Conference on theHumanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons this February in Mexico's Nayarit. We would
like to cooperate together to ensure the success of the Third Conference on theHumanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna around the end of this year. In addition,
this month, the 8thNonproliferation and Disarmament Initiative Ministerial Meeting washeld in Hiroshima. Nuclear weapons must be abolished at the earliest possible moment, andMayors for Peace will do our best, while acknowledging various complementary
approaches and measures to accomplish this goal.
The need to realize a world without nuclear weapons that will be sustainable over the longterm compels us to build a new society in which the security system depending on theunspeakable fear of threat by nuclear weapons called "nuclear deterrence,"based on thepremise of mutual distrust, is replaced by a shared sense of community, rooted in anawareness that we all belong to the same human family. In April 2009, President Obama of
the United States in his speech in Prague clearly stated that humanity must proceed down
the path towards a world without nuclear weapons. Furthermore, before his visit to Japan inNovember of the same year, he stated that the memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki areetched in the world’s consciousness, and he would be honored to have the opportunity tovisit those cities at some point during his presidency. I truly wish for President Obama tovisit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, see the reality of the atomic bombings for himself, and take adetermined step towards nuclear weapons abolition from the atomic bombed sites to theworld.
At today's session, there are eight high school student participants who are working on the"The Abolition of Nuclear Weapons! Signature Campaign" by Jr. and Sr. High School
students of Hiroshima. Mayors for Peace will promote measures to convey the wishes ofHiroshima and Nagasaki to future generationswho will open the path to the future with thenew way of thinking of a new generation. Furthermore, in collaboration with citizens of all
generations from around the world, as well as NGOs and other organizations, we will lend
our full support for the realization of a nuclear weapons convention.
The average age of the atomic bomb survivors, who hold the wish in their hearts to see
nuclear weapons abolition in their lifetimes, is now over 78 years. We will also put in all
our efforts towards bringing togethercivil society’s wishes for nuclear weapons abolition,
which transcend national borders and generations. We earnestly wish for the realization of
nuclear weapons abolition at the earliest possible day through your collective leadership.
Thank you for your attention.