Mayor of Hiroshima Message to Peace & Justice Peace Cranes
Channel: Peace&Justice
Date: 07/08/2020

"It is truly significant that you have organized the Peace Cranes pre-exhibition events to appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons.." says Matsui Kazumi, the Mayor of The City of Hiroshima on 6 August 2020 in a special message read by the Peace Cranes exhibiting artists Michael Mears and You-Ri Yamanaka.  

Mayor Kazumi continues "More than 13,000 nuclear warheads still remain around the world and nuclear disarmament is at a standstill.  Despite global solidarity becoming ever more important in the fight against COVID-19, a new kind of threat to all of humanity, we see self-centered nationalism in ascendance and tensions heightened by international exclusivity and rivalry around the world today. Our current leaders must recall their courageous
predecessors: when nuclear superpowers, the US and USSR, were engaged in a tense, escalating nuclear arms race, their leaders manifested reason and turned to dialogue to seek disarmament. Leaders around the world should pursue negotiations on nuclear disarmament in good faith, as mandated by Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and respond to the yearning of civil society for the entry into force of the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a milestone on the road to a nuclear-weapon-free world."