Hiroshima, Nagasaki mayors say CTBT is indispensable for Nuclear-Weapons-Free world

The Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have voiced their support for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), calling it “indispensable” for a world without nuclear weapons and pledging their partnership towards this goal.

Meeting Robert Floyd, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Nagasaki’s Mayor Tomihisa Taue and Mayor Kazumi Matsui of Hiroshima said they would promote the CTBTO as a success story through the Mayors for Peace initiative, a non-partisan organization consisting of over 8,000 member cities.

“We are aiming to create a world without nuclear weapons, and the CTBT is indispensable to achieve that goal,” Taue said. “I believe the CTBT and our cities, which were A-bombed, are partners working towards achieving the same goal.”

Matsui said much could be learned from the CTBTO’s experience in promoting universal commitment to ending all nuclear tests, as a key part of global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament efforts.

“We would very much like to become comrades,” he said.

Welcoming the mayors to the CTBTO’s Vienna headquarters on 21 June, Floyd thanked Japan for its strong and long-standing support for the CTBT.

“It is a common mission we have to see all nuclear tests banned,” he said.

Japan was the fourth nation to ratify the Treaty, and the first to ratify of the 44 so-called Annex 2 States that must do so for the CTBT to enter into force.

On 6 August 1945, the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, followed three days later by a second on Nagasaki -- the only times nuclear weapons have been used.

While casualty figures vary greatly, in Hiroshima it is estimated some 90,000 to 166,000 people died within the first four months, while in Nagasaki the immediate deaths range from 60,000 to 80,000, according to the U.S.-Japanese Radiation Effects Research Foundation.

To mark the anniversary of the atomic bombings, memorial ceremonies will be held in the two cities on August 6 and 9 to pay homage to the victims and survivors.