Japan under pressure to observe U.N. nuke ban treaty meeting

New York – The only country to have been attacked with an atomic bomb is facing growing calls to observe the first meeting of signatories to a treaty banning nuclear weapons.

Japan, however, relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for its security and is not one of the treaty’s 86 signatory countries and regions

“We urge the government of Japan … to swiftly sign and ratify the treaty,” the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations said in a statement released Saturday, the first anniversary of the treaty’s entry into force.

At least 10 countries have officially notified the United Nations that they will participate as observers at meeting, slated for March in Vienna, sources said Friday.

The 10 countries include Brazil, Finland and Indonesia. The number is expected to grow as Germany and Norway have expressed their intention to take part in the meeting as observers.

A total of 59 countries and regions have already ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which bans the development, possession, testing and use of such arms. But none of the countries officially recognized as possessing nuclear weapons have signed the treaty, which was adopted in 2017.

Kazumi Matsui, mayor of Hiroshima, which along with Nagasaki was devastated by U.S. atomic bombings in August 1945, said Friday that governments need to take concrete action to prompt nuclear weapons states to join the meeting.

Tensions are growing between states that possess nuclear weapons and signatories of the treaty, while treaty advocates such as the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons have been calling for more countries to sign it.

The five recognized nuclear weapons states — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — said in a joint statement this month that nuclear arms races must be avoided.

“We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” they said, adding the role of such armaments should be limited to defensive purposes.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated “the only way to eliminate all nuclear risks is to eliminate all nuclear weapons.”