Peace Declaration (1986)

Peace. That is the fervent prayer of the people of Hiroshima.

Forty-one years ago, on August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was devastated by a scorching flash of light and an earth-shaking explosion. The streets were massed with people, many of them dead almost instantly, and many of the rest wondering if death was not the kinder fate. It was truly an earthly inferno surpassing imagination.

Risen from its ruins like the mythical phoenix. Hiroshima has repeatedly appealed for the total abolition of nuclear weapons and the creation of lasting world peace so that the evil not be repeated.

For a brief interlude beginning last August 6, a new age of nuclear disarmament appeared to be dawning as the Soviet Union announced a moratorium on nuclear testing and summit talks between the United States and the Soviet Union were resumed. However, little progress has been made in these nuclear disarmament negotiations. Instead, the world's nuclear arsenals continue unabated their quantitative and qualitative expansion, accompanied now by a dangerous new nuclear strategy that would extend the risk of atomic bomb holocaust into space.

The Soviet nuclear accident at Chernobyl brought the people of the world face to face with the horrors of lethal radioactivity, arousing serious concern about the lack of mechanisms for international controls and cooperation in case of a nuclear power plant accident. The world shuddered as it witnessed the reality of our nuclear age - the ease with which a nuclear disaster in one country can spill its deadly contamination and consequences into other countries.

Compounding this, regional conflicts and terrorism have become increasingly commonplace, and peace suffers from the growing specter of starvation, the plight of refugees worldwide, the denial of human rights, and other affronts to human decency.

Not long before he was so tragically felled by an assassin's bullet, Sweden's Prime Minister Olof Palme visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Seeing the human shadow imprinted on the stone steps by the scorching heat of the atomic bomb, he remarked apocalyptically that a nuclear war now would probably erase even the shadows on the stones.

When the members of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War visited Hiroshima this June, they were aghast at the historical record and moved to issue a vigorous appeal for an immediate halt to all nuclear testing.

Today, Hiroshima Day is being observed in cities and towns around the world. In Mexico, for example, the heads of state and government of six non-aligned nations are meeting together to appeal for nuclear disarmament.

Calling for the total abolition of all nuclear weapons and the attainment of world peace, the voice of Hiroshima is today the voice of all peoples everywhere.

There is no time to lose.

The nuclear powers should immediately and permanently halt all nuclear tests. Holding the fate of all humankind in their hands, the United States and the Soviet Union should hold a summit meeting in Hiroshima City - both victim and survivor of the world's first atomic bombing - and take the first practical steps toward nuclear disarmament.

We strongly and respectfully request the Secretary-General of the United Nations to urge the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union to visit Hiroshima, and we further request the Secretary-General to take immediate action to convene the Third Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament.

In keeping with the ideals of peace embodied in the Constitution and steadfastly adhering to the three non-nuclear principles, the people and government of Japan should take the initiative in leading efforts for the elimination of nuclear weapons and the attainment of world peace.

This year has been designated the International Year of Peace.

We are holding this Peace Summit in Hiroshima today to mobilize the world's conscience for the total abolition of nuclear weapons and the attainment of lasting world peace.

Hiroshima repeats its appeal.

It is essential that all cities and citizens of the world join together in expanding the circle of solidarity transcending national boundaries, partisan ideologies, and religious creeds to strengthen the bonds of human friendship and solidarity.

Today, on the occasion of this ceremony marking the forty-first anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, we offer our prayer for the repose of the victims' souls, request that the government of Japan enhance its relief measures for survivors and bereaved families alike under the principle of national indemnification, and rededicate ourselves anew to the cause of peace.

August 6, 1986

Takeshi Araki
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima