Peace Declaration (1992)

It is now forty-seven years since that fateful day when Hiroshima was devastated by a single atomic explosion and countless of its citizens perished. Never can we forget the horrible sights that assailed our eyes under Hiroshima's mushroom cloud.

Carrying that memory, we have been untiring in our appeal for the abolition of nuclear weapons and the establishment of lasting world peace so that the horror of Hiroshima never again be repeated.

Yet nuclear testing continues even today. Hiroshima cannot condone a policy of nuclear deterrence that makes national security hostage to nuclear weapons. Nor is the problem only nuclear weapons, as massive arsenals of biological, chemical, and other weapons of mass destruction have been built up over the years to cast a dark shadow over the future of humankind.

The world is now at a historic turning point with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and other dramatic changes. Even though the basic structure of the Cold War between East and West has collapsed and the United States and Russia have reached agreement on deep cuts in their nuclear arsenals, we are still at a crossroads asking whether humankind will opt for conciliation and cooperation or will again revert to confrontation and conflict.

It is absolutely imperative that we halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the spread of nuclear technology. There is also an urgent need to establish a system of nuclear inspections and to deal safely with the radioactive materials left over as nuclear warheads are dismantled.

This June, Hiroshima had the honor of hosting the long-awaited United Nations Conference on Disarmament Issues in Hiroshima. Among the means that Hiroshima proposed at that Conference to promote the abolition of nuclear weapons were an immediate and comprehensive nuclear test ban, disclosure of the status of all nuclear arsenals, the holding of the Fourth Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, and the establishment of a permanent forum in Hiroshima for discussing disarmament and confidence-building measures in the Asia-Pacific region. We hope that these proposals will be given serious study within and without the United Nations and that they will be implemented as soon as possible.

In addition to being threatened with nuclear annihilation, our survival is today also imperiled by the degradation of the global environment. Seeking to preserve the conditions for safe and comfortable living, we intend to develop a new self-awareness as human beings transcending race and nationality and to create a world of peace.

Thus it is that Hiroshima is further strengthening the inter-city bonds of solidarity for peace and building a wide range of friendly and cooperative relations. In addition, we want to further enhance relief efforts for hibakusha around the world.

Japan inflicted great hardship and suffering on the peoples of the Asia-Pacific region during its long period of war and colonization. Empathizing with this suffering, we must further strengthen our ties of community for the future. Rectitude must be the foundation of trust.

On this forty-seventh anniversary of that tragic bombing, we earnestly pray for the repose of the many victims of the bombing and vow that "we shall not repeat the evil." At the same time, we very much hope that the government of Japan will enact the Hibakusha Relief Law under the principle of national indemnification for those people who died that day for peace and the aged hibakusha who continue to suffer the after-effects of radiation and will also endeavor to assist those hibakusha who are resident overseas as well.

The road to abolishing nuclear weapons and establishing a new order of peace is still long and arduous. Now more than ever must each and every one of us rid ourselves of prejudice and hatred and have the strength to sustain the cause of peace. We do hereby pledge ourselves anew to defending the ideal of non-belligerence embodied in the Constitution of Japan and to continuing to inform young people everywhere of Hiroshima's central significance for peace.

August 6, 1992

Takashi Hiraoka
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima

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