Peace Declaration (1987)

A City of International Peace and Culture reborn from the catastrophe of the atomic bombing, Hiroshima has dedicated itself to appealing for the total abolition of nuclear weapons and for coexistence and co-prosperity for all peoples everywhere. Today marks the forty-second anniversary of that fateful day.

"Let all the souls here rest in peace; For we shall not repeat the evil." So reads the epitaph on the Memorial Cenotaph, embodying a mournful prayer for the victims of this tragedy as well as a solemn pledge and sacred commandment to all peoples past, present, and future. Renewing our commitment, we must strive untiringly in our efforts to ensure that this Hiroshima Spirit is observed worldwide.

Among the commemorative events being held today is a symposium with leading journalists from the nuclear powers in an attempt to turn the weight of world opinion toward the total elimination of all nuclear weapons. In 1989, the World Conference of Mayors for Peace through Inter-city Solidarity will again be held in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to broaden the bonds of friendship among cities and citizens everywhere. In the same year, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War will hold its World Congress in Hiroshima to further the quest for a safe, nuclear-free world.

It is increasingly important that future generations be told about the horrors of nuclear war. It is thus most encouraging that over five million schoolchildren have visited Hiroshima over the last ten years, seeing with their own eyes the truth of this bombing and learning in their own hearts the luxury and fragility of life.

As the nuclear arms race expands into space and the world continues to be possessed by power politics and the balance of terror, it becomes increasingly likely that all life will be snuffed out. This is a truly intolerable situation.

In this nuclear age, it is imperative that we bring together mankind's collective wisdom and move from distrust to dialogue, from fear to friendship, in overcoming national interests and embarking on a new path that wil1 lead to lasting world peace.

The recent East-West agreement toward the abolition of intermediate-range nuclear forces is thus a success for the broad-based international public opposition to nuclear weapons, and Hiroshima is watching these negotiations with utmost interest.

Starvation, refugee dislocation, and human rights oppression are among the other urgent problems demanding solution.

This year is the tenth year since the United Nations Disarmament Week was first declared, and the Third Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament will be held next year - we devoutly hope most successfully.

Hiroshima reiterates its appeal: Let the nuclear powers immediately institute a complete ban on testing ; let the United States and the Soviet Union convene a Summit Meeting for the early conclusion of a comprehensive nuclear disarmament treaty ; and let all the world's leaders come to Hiroshima so that they may affirm for themselves the reality of nuclear war.

Representing the only country to have been atomic-bombed in war, the government of Japan should embark upon the diplomacy of peace more vigorously and take a greater initiative for the abolition of nuclear weapons in line with its Constitutional ideals of peace and in firm adherence to its three non-nuclear principles.

At this Peace Memorial Ceremony commemorating those unforgettable events of forty-two years ago, we offer our sincere prayers for the repose of the bomb's many victims. Appealing to the government of Japan to move quickly to establish enhanced compassionate policy measures for the relief of aging hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and bereaved families alike under the principle of national indemnification, we do here pledge ourselves to work untiringly for the cause of peace so that this evil never be repeated.

August 6, 1987

Takeshi Araki
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima