An Urgent Appeal to the G7 Hiroshima Summit (May 19-21, 2023)

Don’t Contaminate Ukrainian Soil with Depleted Uranium Weapons!

                       By the Citizens’ Network Opposing the Use of DU Weapons in Ukraine (＊)

Deeply concerned about the grave situation created by the war in Ukraine, we, the undersigned, feel an unprecedent sense of crisis. With nuclear plants in the line of fire and frequent threats to use nuclear weapons, we feel catastrophe looming ever closer. And now, in this context, we hear that depleted uranium (DU) ammunitions are being delivered to Ukraine by the U.K..

      DU munitions are made of nuclear waste. If used in Ukraine, many Ukrainians will be harmed and the natural environment will likely be irreparably contaminated. Thus, while hoping above all for a prompt end to the war, we demand that the countries involved in the G7 Hiroshima Summit take the following actions:

1)     Japan, the host of the G7 Hiroshima Summit, should issue emphatic appeals at the G7 Summit regarding the inhumanity of both DU and nuclear weapons, arousing international public opposition to the use of these weapons in Ukraine. 

2)     The U.K. should halt delivery of DU munitions to Ukraine and withdraw immediately those already delivered.

3)     If the Russian military has already used DU munitions in Ukraine, the danger of which Russia itself has admitted, they should disclose the locations where they have used them.    It should do its utmost to repair the damage, cooperating with efforts to help the natural environment recover.

4)      Ukraine should refuse to use the DU ammunitions supplied by the U.K. DU munitions will, in all likelihood, harm the health of Ukrainian soldiers and people, and the contamination will make postwar recovery even more difficult.

Please endorse this appeal, Don’t Contaminate Ukrainian Soil with Depleted Uranium Weapons, at Change.org (https://chng.it/9w4Dg5drhm by May 7, 2023, though your signatures will be appreciated even after this date. By signing you will strengthen our efforts to highlight this issue prior to and during the G7 Hiroshima Summit to be held May 19-21 in Hiroshima.

We will try our best to draw the attention of the G7 leaders and the hundreds of journalists who will gather from around Japan and the world to this urgent and global issue.

2023.4.25

See Ground for apeal Contact:  hibakushaforum@gmail.com

Initiators    [in alphabetical order; ＊=co-directors]

: ADACHI Shuichi (representative, HANWA=Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition)

: AKIBA Tadatoshi (former mayor of Hiroshima)

: ANZAI Ikuro (professor emeritus, Ritsumeikan University)

: BREINES, Ingeborg (consultant; former co-president International Peace Bureau;

former director, the Women and A Culture of Peace Program at UNESCO／Norway)

: COHEN-JOPPA, Jack (co-coordinator, the Nuclear Resister／U.S.A.)

: DIVERTITO, Stefania (Environmental journalist and writer／Italy)

: FUJIMOTO Yasushi (secretary-general, HANWA)

: FURITSU Katsumi (doctor; advisor, ICBUW=International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons)

: HABA, Kumiko (professor emeritus, Aoyama Gakuin University; President, ISA Asia Pacific)

: HIRAOKA Takashi (former mayor of Hiroshima)

: HUH Woo Sung (professor emeritus, Kyung Hee University／South Korea)

: IANNZZELLI, Francesco (representative, PeaceLink／Italy)

: IKUTA Manji (a second-generation hibakusha, Musician)

: INOSHITA Toshi (doctor; council member, JIM-NET)

: JACOBS, Robert A. (professor, Hiroshima Peace Institute)

: KAMANAKA Hitomi (film director, Bun Bun Films Co., Ltd.)

: KAZASHI Nobuo (ICBUW Hiroshima Office; HANWA) ＊

: KIMURA Shinzo (radiological hygienics researcher)

: KOIDE Hiroaki (former Assistant professor, Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute)

: KODERA Takayuki (chairperson, Chernobyl Children's Fund; 

former director, Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels) ＊

: KONISHI Katsuya (journalist; Visiting professor, Akita International University)

: LEE, Jong Kwan (professor, Sungkyunkwan University／South Korea)

: LEEPER, Steven (representative, Peace Culture Village)

: LOPEZ, Damacio (director, International Depleted Uranium Study Team [IDUST] ／U.S.A.)

: MACDONALD, Isabel (the San José Quaker Peace Center／Costa Rica)

: MOHR, Manfred (co-chair, ICBUW; professor of international law, Germany)

: MORITAKI Haruko (advisor, HANWA=Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition)

: NORIMATSU Oka Satoko (co-Coordinator, International Network of Museums for Peace／Canada)

: NAKAMURA Keiko (associate professor, Nagasaki University)

: OGURA Keiko (Hibakusha, director of Hiroshima Interpreters for Peace [HIP])

: OHNO Giichiro (medical doctor, Japanese Coalition Against Military Research in Academia, 

The Association for the Verification of Inhuman Conduct by Japanese Researchers

 and Health Care Professionals during the War)

: SAKIYAMA Hisako (former member of the National Diet of Japan

Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation)

: SATO Maki (Advisor in international cooperation)

: SCARRY, Elaine (professor, Harvard University／U.S.A.)

: SUZUKI Tatsujiro (professor, Nagasaki University; 

council member, Pugwash Conferences on Science and International Affairs)

: TAIRA Aika (Secretariat, Christian Network for Peace- sticking to the Peace Constitution)

: TAKAHARA Takao (senior fellow, PRIME=International Peace Research Institute Meiji Gakuin University)

: TAKAHASHI Hiroko (professor, Nara University)

: TAKAHASHI Yuta (co-representative, Kakuwaka Hiroshima)

: TAKEDA Takao (monk, Nipponzanmyohoji Temple)

: TAKEMINE Seiichiro (professor, Meisei University)

: THORNTON, Tara (deputy director, Endangered Species Coalition／U.S.A.)

: TOYODA Naomi (photo-journalist, JVJA=Japan Visual Journalist Association)

: TSUTAJA Gaku (artist／U.S.A.)

: VARTANIAN, Khajak (radiologist; DU specialist／Basra, Iraq)

: VERJAUW, Ria (spokesperson, ICBUW; coordinator Leuven Peace Movement／Belgium)

: WATANABE Tomoko (NPO ANT-Hiroshima)

: YAGASAKI Katsuma (professor emeritus, Ryukyu University) 

: YAMADA Kosaku (professor emeritus, Kyoto University)