ICAN Official Hails Nihon Hidankyo's Role in Int'l Society

Tokyo, Nov. 10 (Jiji Press)--Akira Kawasaki, a senior official of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN, has praised the role being played by the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, or Nihon Hidankyo, in the international community.

Kawasaki, 55, a member of the International Steering Group of ICAN, said that Nihon Hidankyo members have "repeatedly testified about their experiences and increased, by using the most persuasive power, the understanding around the world for their pledge that nuclear weapons must be abolished."

Nihon Hidankyo has been named the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize. ICAN was awarded the prestigious prize in 2017.

Japan is the only country attacked with nuclear weapons, with the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki destroyed by U.S. atomic bombs in August 1945 in the closing days of World War II.

Since around 1998, Kawasaki has been cooperating with Nihon Hidankyo, including for its executives' testimonies at international conferences. "At every nuclear arms-related conference, (Nihon Hidankyo executives) have expressed their opinions without hesitation, even when they faced representatives of nuclear weapons states. The importance of their grassroots testifying activities is at the core of the reason for the group's winning of the prize," he said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]