Two Japanese atomic bomb survivors delivered a petition Wednesday to disarmament officials at the United Nations calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons, an appeal backed so far by more than 8.3 million people around the world.
Sueichi Kido, secretary-general of Nihon Hidankyo, or the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations, presented the "Appeal of the Hibakusha" to Romanian Ambassador Ion Jinga, who currently chairs the General Assembly committee that is charged with tackling disarmament and international security.
"Our ultimate goal as the Hidankyo and the United Nations, we are the same, we have the same conviction of eliminating the use of nuclear weapons and to do that we have to collect more and more signatures around the world from millions to hundreds of millions," Kido said through an interpreter. "I wish to see a world where there are no nuclear weapons within my lifetime."