UNITED NATIONS (TDI): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has congratulated the Japanese anti-nuclear weapons organization Nihon Hidankyo for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
He also urged world to take steps for elimination of all nuclear weapons.
Hibakusha, a grassroots movement of survivors of the 1945 American atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, known as, is striving for a nuclear-free world – a top priority for the UN.
The UN chief said that the hibakusha is a “selfless, soul-bearing witnesses of the horrific human cost of nuclear weapons.”
He recalled his meetings with the hibakusha over the years.
“Their haunting living testimony reminds the world that the nuclear threat is not confined to history books. Nuclear weapons remain a clear and present danger to humanity, once again appearing in the daily rhetoric of international relations,” APP quoted the Secretary-General saying as.
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“It is time for world leaders to be as clear-eyed as the hibakusha, and see nuclear weapons for what they are: devices of death that offer no safety, protection, or security. The only way to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them altogether.”
He said hibakusha and the UN shared efforts to build a world free of nuclear weapons.
In a recent speech, Guterres reiterated that “there should be no place for these devices of death in our world.”
First time in human history, the atomic bombs were used and dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945 by the United States.
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It was drastic, more than 200,000 people died due to nuclear radiation, shock waves from the explosions, and thermal radiation. Hundreds of thousands more have died over the years. And many became disabled.
In the aftermath of the bombings, the hibakusha conducted intense investigations in efforts to prevent such destruction from ever occurring again.
