Good signs for nuclear-free world present - Ramon Magsaysay awardee

MANILA, Philippines - Ramon Magsaysay 2010 awardee Hiroshima City Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said the good signs are there to achieve the goal of a nuclear free-world.

Akiba cited the support of US President Barack Obama and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Ramon Magsaysay award as positive signs that the vision of a world without nuclear weapons can come true.

Just this year, Obama delivered a speech in Prague calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Akiba said Ban is a staunch advocate for a nuke-free world.

“Secretary Ban made it his personal priority to create a nuclear-free world. He is determined and serious to help in the campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons. These are good signs, it shows the timing is right and it is doable to create a nuclear-free world,” said Akiba, who is leading a global campaign for nuclear disarmament.

Akiba was three years old when an atomic bomb hit Hiroshima. Although he was not in Hiroshima that time and not a victim of the nuclear bombing as he was living in Tokyo, he made it his lifelong advocacy to tell the world about the horrors of nuclear war as seen in the example of Hiroshima.

His most important program was launched in 2003 when Mayors for Peace launched their “2020 vision” campaign to escalate pressure on governments to abolish nuclear weapons by 2020, the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings.

Akiba noted that from a membership of 500, they have increased to 4,069 members from 144 countries representing 800 million people.