President and Secretary General attended the 2nd Session of the UN Negotiations on a Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons

June 2017

Mayor Matsui of Hiroshima, President of Mayors for Peace and Secretary General Komizo of Mayors for Peace attended the Second Session of the UN Negotiations on a Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons held in New York from Jun 15 to July 7. President Matsui conveyed the hibakusha’s earnest wish to witness the prohibition of nuclear weapons in their lifetime. And he appealed for the realization of a new treaty that will be a fully effective legal instrument to achieve nuclear abolition – not through antagonism among world leaders but through open and constructive discussions.

Schedule for President Matsui and Secretary General Komizo: June13 (Tue) ~ June 18 (Sun), 2017

June 14 (Wed)
Meeting with Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs

Ms. Nakamitsu and President Matsui agreed that we must make sure that a new treaty must be more advanced than any other existing instruments such as the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) or the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) even if one or two steps.
She also mentioned that she is going to attend the 9th General Conference of Mayors for Peace.

Meeting with Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs
June 15 (Thu)
Observation of the Second Session of the UN Negotiations on a Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons (First day)

To begin the Conference, President Whyte Gómez (Costa Rica) expressed enthusiasm for the adoption of the draft treaty and Ms. Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs expressed her hope that the negotiations would result in an instrument that would build the bridge to a future in which the total elimination of nuclear weapons would be possible.

Speech at the Second Session of the UN Negotiations on a Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons

President Matsui made a speech, first in the NGO segment prior to substantial discussions.
He expressed the earnest wish of hibakusha for the abolition of nuclear weapons and hope for open discussions so that the new treaty will be adopted in this session. Furthermore, he emphasized that world leaders should take a decisive leadership in their own disarmament efforts in order for the treaty to be an effective instrument.

NGOセッションでのスピーチ


June 16 (Fri)
Observation of the Second Session of the UN Negotiations on a Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons (Second day)

Continuing from the previous day, the discussion on the treaty’s preamble continued all day, with delegations expressing various opinions on the wording of the draft treaty.

Meeting with Ambassador Hajnoczi, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations Office at Geneva

Ambassador Hajnoczi said that he considers the draft as something similar to the foundations when building a house and should not be fixed as the final document but instead should be flexible towards the future participation from non-contracting parties including nuclear-armed states.

Meeting with Ambassador Hajnoczi, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations Office at Geneva
Meeting with Ambassador Whyte Gómez, President of the Conference

President Matsui conveyed to the President Whyte Gómez that Mayors for Peace would like to support creating an environment for open discussion between nuclear-armed states and non-nuclear-armed states after the adoption of the treaty.

Meeting with Ambassador Whyte Gómez, President of the Conference
Meeting with Mr. Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City

At its Annual Meeting in 2016, the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) adopted a resolution to support the activities by Mayors for Peace to abolish nuclear weapons, co-sponsored by 23 mayors including the Mayor of Des Moines, Iowa, the Lead City of Mayors for Peace, and also the Mayor of New York City. President Matsui took this opportunity to thank Mayor de Blasio for his co-sponsorship then.
President Matsui also asked Mayor de Blasio to consider joining Mayors for Peace.

Meeting with Mr. Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City