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MESSAGE IN REMBRANCE OF 60th
YEAR OF THE U.S. ATOMIC BOMBINGS
OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI
Dear citizens of Japan, venerable Hibakusha,
victims of nuclear weapons testing and production,
and all who are united in the commitment to peace and the total elimination
of nuclear weapons:
The members of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
(WILPF) around the world in nearly 40 countries and on every continent
send you our greetings of solidarity on the occasion of the solemn remembrance
of the first, and only, war time use of nuclear weapons. We share
with you the urgency of our goal to abolish nuclear weapons from earth
and space and to eradicate their threat forever.
In remembrance of the nuclear horror witnessed 60 years ago, and to remind
people of that shameful calamity and the years of suffering in the aftermath,
WILPF members throughout the world join with others in their communities
in public remembrance through silent vigils, demonstrations, shadow drawings,
music and art, media programs, seminars, letters to the editors and many
other ways of calling everyone in the world to join together so that there
will never be another Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
Since the founding of the Women’s International
League in 1915 at The Hague, 90 years ago, during the first World War,
we have worked for non-violent means of ending conflict. In the
aftermath of World War II and in the founding of the United Nations our
organization has year after year engaged in relentless work for total
and universal nuclear disarmament, and for the creation of a just
and sustainable peace with respect for the rights of all living things.
Our fragile ecological systems are in danger of collapsing. The
planet can no longer endure the devastation and waste of war, preparing
for war, and the violence of policies based on national security rather
than on human and ecological security.
Women’s International League is represented at this 60th Year Remembrance
and at the 2005 World Conference Against A and H Bombs by our Secretary
General from Geneva, Ms. Susi Snyder.
Ms. Jean Verthein, teacher and WILPF Representative to the UN in New York,
and Ms. Chris Henderson, peace activist from Australia, will also convey
in person our official greetings of international solidarity. Among
other WILPF members present are Julia Johnstone and Annie Boanas, young
women from Christchurch, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and members of our Japanese
WILPF Section representing members of branches in Tokyo, Sendai, Chiba,
Kanagawa, Kawagoe, Hiroshima, Ohita, Kyoto and Saitawa.
In peace, on behalf of Women’s International
League for Peace and Freedom,
Regina Birchem
International President
International Secretariat,
1 rue de Varembe
Case Postale 28
CH-1211Geneva 20, Switzerland
(+41 22) 919 7080
<info@wilpf.ch>
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