July 20 in 2017
A Statement to Welcome U.N. Treaty to Ban Nuclear WeaponsbyAssociation to Support the Bikini Atoll Nuclear Test Victims’ Lawsuit forReparation by the State

Negotiation over concluding Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons started inMay 2017 at the United Nations and it was approved on July 7 by almost
three second of 193 member nations of the United Nations: 122 nations infavor with the Netherlands opposed and Singapore abstaining. It wasboycotted by all nuclear-armed nations. We wholeheartedly welcome thelong-awaited Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons because we went throughhardship by nuclear weapons and nuclear tests, and we actually know that it
is not possible for nuclear weapons and human beings to coexist. At thesame time, we would like to express our strong protest against the Japanese
government that opposed to the treaty and did not attend the conference.
The Japanese government official should have attended the conference as
the representative of Japanese people who went through hardship by nuclear
disaster in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, U.S. nuclear tests in the Bikini Atollsin the Marshall Islands and nuclear accidents in Fukushima four times.
The Japanese government should have played active roles in adopting theresolution of the treaty.
It was made clear in Article 6 on Victim Assistance and Environmental
Remediation as “Each State Party shall, with respect to individuals under its
jurisdiction who are affected by the use or testing of nuclear weapons, in accordancewith applicable international humanitarian and human rights law, adequately provide
age- and gender-sensitive assistance, without discrimination, including medical care,rehabilitation and psychological support, as well as provide for their social andeconomic inclusion.”

Japanese tuna fishing boats such as the 5th Lucky Dragon boat andmany other boats were exposed to radiation by six U.S. hydrogen bomb tests
at Bikini Atolls in the Pacific Ocean from March to May in 1954. Attention
was paid internationally to such events as the third exposure to radiation by
the Japanese after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. TheJapanese government checked the level of radiation of fish brought byfishing boats that returned to Japan from March to December in 1954. As aresult, about 500 tons of tuna were thrown away and the number ofJapanese fishing boats from which radiation-contaminated fish was thrownout was about a total of 1000. Radioactive fallout was spread from theBikini Atolls to Japan, the Philippines, Mexico and so forth globallyespecially in the Northern Hemisphere. Five times as much as fallout inJapan could be seen in the Middle West of the USA. All the power of six
nuclear tests was 48.3 megaton (about 3220 times as much as the atomic
bomb used on Hiroshima) and the whole amount of radioactive fallout was
22.73 mega curies (22.73 million curies, 840,000 tera Bq) 100 days after thenuclear tests according to an official document of the United States
Department of Energy.
However, the Japanese government stopped investigating the level ofradiation of tuna in December in 1954, and received $2 million as a gift intoken of the U.S. sympathy without demanding compensation for damage by
nuclear tests in January 1955. The both governments made this final
solution, which was political settlement. The U.S. nuclear tests in the open
sea are against international law and there was no responsibility forJapanese tuna fishing boats. Fishermen and their bereaved families filed alawsuit against the Japanese government on May 9 in 2016, sixty-two years
after the nuclear tests seeking redress by the state because they wereabandoned by the political settlement and have been suffering from thedamage for a long time.
The U.S.A. conducted atmospheric nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean
105 times repeatedly since the hydrogen bomb tests in the Bikini Atolls.
Nuclear power nations such as the U.S.A, former USSR, Britain, France,
China and so forth conducted atmospheric nuclear tests 488 times. As aresult, radioactive contamination spread globally. Treaty Banning Nuclear
Weapon Test in the Atmosphere, in outer Space and under Water banned
atmospheric nuclear tests in August 1963, but nuclear power states that
conducted nuclear tests did not make clear reality of damage and conductedunderground nuclear tests over 2000 times until 1998.
The media tends to report that problems of nuclear disaster of nuclear
power states are only about soldiers who participated in nuclear tests
without referring to nuclear disaster that spread globally. It is importantfor people in the world to show long-term threat to human beings and global
environmental contamination by the use of nuclear weapons, nuclear tests
and nuclear accidents so that nuclear power states will sign the Treaty toBan Nuclear Weapons.
The Japanese government has roles and responsibility to demand nuclear
power states inspect their own nuclear tests comprehensively as a state thatwent through nuclear disaster four times. We would like to suggest thefollowing actions.

１ . Signing of the Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons will start from
September 20. Let’s promote the movement to raise awareness of people toabolish nuclear weapons with hibakushas and victims of nuclear disaster,and demand each government (including nuclear power states and thoseunder nuclear umbrella) sign the treaty and ratify it.
２. Let’s promote peace education at various places in the world teaching
the treaty banning nuclear weapons in order to protect the earth from
nuclear contamination with an emphasis on citizens, young people andchildren by having study meetings and discussion and exchanging ideas.
３. Let’s investigate reality of the use of nuclear weapons and nuclear tests
scientifically by nuclear power states at regions of nuclear disaster in theworld, make a network of victims of nuclear disaster regions and promote theestablishment of the system of compensation for hibakushas and victims ofnuclear disaster.

Reference:WORLD-WIDE FALLOUT FROM OPERATION CASTLE:
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph241/garcia2/docs/51383e.pdf
The number of nuclear tests in the world:
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A0%B8%E5%AE%9F%E9%A8%93
Contact:
Association to Support the Bikini Atoll Nuclear Test Victims’ Lawsuit for
Reparation by the State
c/o Masatoshi Yamashita
2779-2 Yoshina, Yamanacho, Sukumo City, Kochi Prefecture Japan 788-0785
Tel/fax 0880-66-1763
Email: masatosi.sky@orange.zero.jp(Translated by Kazuyo Yamane)