Nagasaki

05 August 2010

Opening remarks at press conference at Urakami Cathedral

Ban Ki-moon

Ladies and gentlemen,

Minasan konnichiwa.

It is a great honour for me to visit this historic site

It has been a profoundly moving day for me.

I have come to Japan to commemorate the terrible events of 1945 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki ? and to join my voice with all those who say this can never happen again.

More than 75,000 people died instantly here in Nagasaki. A similar number perished in Hiroshima.

Many more died from injuries and radiation poisoning. People are still dying today.

I was privileged today to be joined by Mr. Sumiteru Taniguchi.

My meeting with the hibakusha was very humbling.

Their injuries were shocking. Their fortitude has been unimaginable.

Their devotion to using their experiences to promote peace and disarmament is inspiring and humbling.

I salute Mr. Taniguchi and all the hibakusha for the lessons they are taking to the world.

I am also grateful to the Archbishop of Nagasaki, the Most Reverend Joseph Mitsuaki Takami, for showing me the head of the damaged statue of St. Mary. I am also grateful to Mayor Tomihisa Taue of Nagasaki for his commitment and inspiring leadership on nuclear disarmament.

At United Nations Headquarters in New York, we have our own monument to the devastation, graciously donated by the people of Nagasaki.

Having survived the intense heat and radiation of the nuclear explosion, the damaged statue of St. Agnes is seen by over 400,000 visitors each year

It is one of our most precious works of art – a reminder of our solemn responsibility to work for a world free of nuclear weapons.

The moving sight of this reconstructed cathedral has only further strengthened my determination to seek the elimination of all nuclear weapons.

We can only achieve this through political will – and the sustained efforts of citizens everywhere to tell their governments: “no more”.

I commend the Government and people of Japan for their determined efforts on behalf of nuclear disarmament over the decades.

In the General Assembly and at the review conferences of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Japan has long supported concrete, practical measures aimed at achieving a world free of nuclear weapons.

My visit here has strengthened my conviction that these weapons must be outlawed, either by a nuclear weapons convention or by a framework of separate mutually-reinforcing instruments.

I urge all nations to support my five-point action plan for nuclear disarmament and to agree to negotiate a nuclear weapons convention at the earliest possible date.

There must be no place in our world for such indiscriminate weapons.

In closing, I wish to thank Archbishop Takami of Nagasaki and Mayor Taue for their invitation and enabling this most moving visit.

Arigato gozaimasu.