On August 6, 2023, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony was held in Hiroshima. Representatives from 111 countries and the EU, along with Japan, participated, including:

➢ Ambassadorial-level—Australia, Brazil, France, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Norway, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, the United Kingdom and the United States

➢ Non-ambassadorial-level—Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Turkey

➢ Not attending—Austria, Canada, China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (Note: underlines denote countries whose representatives have attended the ceremony at least once in the past three years)

Relatedly, the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony, scheduled for August 9, was held on a reduced scale due to inclement weather. As in 2022, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki decided not to invite Russia and Belarus to the 2023 ceremonies due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the support given to this by Belarus.

At various fora, Japan has proposed that the world’s political leaders visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to witness the humanitarian consequences of using nuclear weapons.

At the G7 Hiroshima Summit in May 2023, the leaders of the G7 countries, the leaders of the invited countries (Australia, Brazil, Comoros [African Union Chair], Cook Islands [Pacific Islands Forum Chair], India [G20 Presidency], Indonesia [ASEAN Chair], South Korea and Vietnam), representatives of international organizations (UN, IMF, World Bank, WTO, OECD, IEA), and the Ukrainian President who participated as a guest at the Ukrainian session in the latter half of the summit, visited the Peace Memorial Museum, held a dialogue with hibakusha, and offered flowers at the Cenotaph for the Atomic Bomb Victims. Prime Minister Kishida and South Korean President Yoon also offered flowers to the Cenotaph for the Victims of the Korean Atomic Bombing.

Meanwhile, South Africa made the following statements at the NPT PrepCom in connection with this issue:

South Africa would like to pay tribute to the important role played by civil society in the coming into being of the TPNW, in particular the Hibakusha some of whom who made it clear when they spoke at the opening that if any of the nuclear-weapon States and States under extended nuclear security guarantees have learned anything at all from the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the only lesson is that they sign up to the TPNW and ratify it. Anything less than that will be for show and insincere. South Africa notes the recent visit of some States to the Hiroshima museum. We trust that visit will serve as a reminder to NWS of the destructive nature and disastrous humanitarian impact of the use of these inhumane weapons. Furthermore, just merely going to visit the museum in Hiroshima does not absolve any state of its obligations. We therefore urge the NWS to take concrete steps towards disarmament.283

 

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283 “Statement of South Africa,” Cluster 1, First PrepCom for the 11th NPT RevCon, August 3, 2023.