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Peace Declaration (1980)

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Change brings change inexorably, and nothing stands still - thirty-five years have now passed since that day of disaster.

On that day, Hiroshima took the brunt of the age of nuclear war, in an infernal and scorching blast. Since that day, she has been ever calling for an end to nuclear weapons, praying for a lasting peace for man.

The world situation, at the present time, deeply troubles Hiroshima. World military expenditure has finally come to exceed one billion dollars per day. Its ever-rising curve affects developing countries, and hastens their armament.

Each element in the conflicts in the Middle East and Southeast Asia bears with it the possibility of a development into total nuclear war, even though this depends on the major powers' political strategies. The massive flow of refugees in these regions casts its dark shadow on us.

Apprehension about nuclear expansion and proliferation, and attempts to save mankind from annihilating itself, have been evident in the Limited Test Ban Treaty, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between the United States and the Soviet Union, and other concrete results. In particular, in the first-ever Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly devoted to Disarmament, the member nations reached agreement on the principle that the security of a nation should be maintained not by armament but by disarmament. They resolved at the same time that the reduction of nuclear weapons should be given the highest priority in disarmament issues, with the ultimate aim of abolishing nuclear weapons entirely.

This year, a Peace Memorial Exhibition was held at the United States Senate Office Building, focusing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is clear that international concern about the atomic disaster experience of Hiroshima has been growing. We have little doubt that it will usher in a movement not only to prevent any future victims from being exposed to the horrors of nuclear radiation, but to form an international consensus for the complete eradication of nuclear weapons.

But when we take into account the present realities of the international situation, we see that it will be impossible for us to reach the distant shore of peace, unless we conquer intergovernmental distrust, deep-rooted in the folly of the arms race. Hiroshima therefore now proposes that, before the opening of the second Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly devoted to Disarmament, there should be a World Summit Conference on Peace, with the participation of the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union. The Government of Japan should take the initiative in advocating this, since, at the first Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly devoted to Disarmament, our Government declared her determination to strengthen still further her diplomatic efforts dedicated to peace and based on international cooperation.

It is now high time for us to call for the solidarity of all mankind, and to shift our common path away from self-destruction towards survival.

Today, on the occasion of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the atomic bombing, we pray devoutly for the repose of the souls of the A-bomb victims; we express our desire for the earliest enactment of the A-bomb victims' relief law, based on the acceptance of national responsibility for indemnity; and we pledge all our efforts to ensure the survival of mankind.

August 6, 1980

Takeshi Araki
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima


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