海外へのお手紙 2023年
Dear fellow peace-lovers
2023年「千羽鶴を海外へ送るつどい」でのお手紙
Dear fellow peace-lovers.
Although Russia has made threats suggesting the use of nuclear weapons in its invasion of Ukraine, the Nuclear Weapons Convention, a long-held wish of the Hibakusha, entered into force on 22 January 2021, and the number of countries that have signed and ratified the treaty has increased since then. Currently 92 countries have signed and 68 countries have ratified the Treaty (as of 9 January 2023), and participation in the Treaty is growing. On 21-23 June 2022, the First Conference of the States Parties to the Nuclear Weapons Convention will meet to chart the way forward for the full and effective implementation of the Treaty, with signatories and observer states, It was attended by a wide range of other observers, hibakusha and civil society representatives. This was made possible by the steady and steady grassroots efforts of Hibakusha and other people who aim for a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons, including signature drives. The adoption of opinion letters to peace administrations and governments promoted by local governments was also a major force. The road to nuclear abolition was paved by civil society and governments working together.
We strongly urge the Government of Japan, the only country to have been exposed to war, to join the Treaty, and hope that it will appeal to the people of the world who have not joined the Treaty and spread sympathy for nuclear abolition, spreading the cruelty and inhumanity of nuclear weapons to the people of the world and bringing about new action and change that will move their own governments.
We, the Ehime Prefecture Executive Committee of the National Peace March against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs , have been organising peace marches for 64 years, wishing for world peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons as a nation of atomic bomb survivors and Japanese citizens with a constitution that renounces war. This year again, the march visited all municipalities, and more than 340 people, including A-bomb survivors, marched. At the same time, we have been involved in the campaign to send 1,000 paper cranes, "Messengers of Peace", overseas, and 200,000 paper cranes have been sent this year.
A thousand folded paper cranes are a symbol of long life in Japan, where it is said that cranes live for a thousand years and turtles live for ten thousand years. In Hiroshima Peace Park there is a statue of the Children of the Atomic Bomb: Sadako Sasaki, who was exposed to the bomb at the age of two years and eight months, suffered from acute leukemia and continued to fold cranes to express her wish to live, but died at the age of 12. The folded paper cranes contain her determination not to create another Hibakusha.
This year these 1,000 paper cranes will be sent to your organisation. So far, 5,391,000 paper cranes have been sent to 91 organisations in 33 countries. We sincerely hope that these paper cranes will be useful for your grassroots anti-nuclear peace movement. We would be very grateful if you could let us know about the arrival of these 1,000 paper cranes and how your peace movement is going.
No More Hiroshima! No more Nagasaki! No more Hibakusha!
2023 The committee of The Great Peace March of Ehime Council
Against Atomic & Hydrogen Bombs,
The Chair Masao Imai
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平和を愛する仲間のみなさんへ
ロシアはウクライナ侵略における核兵器使用を示唆しての威嚇を行っていますが、被爆者の悲願であった「核兵器禁止条約」は2021年1月22日に発効し、その後も署名・批准国は増えています。現在92カ国が署名、68カ国が批准（2023年1月9日現在）しており、この条約への参加が広がっています。2022年6月21～23日には、核兵器禁止条約第1回締約国会議が、この条約の完全かつ効果的な実施のために進むべき道を示すために、署名国やオブサーバー国、その他オブザーバー、被爆者、市民社会の代表など幅広い参加で開催されました。ここに至るには、被爆者自身をはじめ核兵器のない平和な世界をめざす人々の、署名活動など草の根からの地道で着実な運動がありました。自治体のすすめる平和行政や政府への意見書採択も大きな力となりました。市民社会と諸国政府が力を合わせて切り開いた核廃絶への道です。
私たちは、唯一の戦争被爆国である日本政府に条約参加を強く促すとともに、参加せずにいる世界各国の人々に核兵器の残虐性、非人道性を訴えて核廃絶への共感を広げ、自国の政府を動かすような新たな行動と変化が生まれることを希望しています。
私たち原水爆禁止国民平和大行進愛媛県実行委員会は、被爆国であり、戦争放棄の憲法をもつ日本国民として、世界の平和と核兵器廃絶を願い、64年間平和行進を続けています。今年も全自治体を訪問し、被爆者をはじめ340人をこえる県民が行進しました。同時に「‟平和の使者”千羽鶴を海外へ送る運動」にとりくみ、今年も20万羽の折り鶴がよせられています。
千羽鶴は、日本では「鶴は千年、亀は万年」と言われ、長命の象徴です。広島平和公園には「原爆の子の像」があります。２歳８ヶ月で被爆した佐々木禎子さんは、急性白血病になり、「生きたい」という願いを込めて鶴を折り続けましたが、12歳で亡くなりました。折り鶴には、「再び被爆者をつくらない」という決意が込められています。
この千羽鶴を今年は貴団体へお送りします。これまで、世界33カ国91団体へ、5,391,000羽を送っています。みなさんの草の根からの反核平和運動に、この折り鶴を役立てていただくことを心から希望します。この千羽鶴の到着とみなさんの平和運動の様子などお知らせいただければ幸いです。
ノ一モア・ヒロシマ！ノ一モア・ナガサキ！ノ一モア・ヒバクシャ！
実行委員長 今井 正夫
