Survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, known as hibakusha, members of US peace groups and others have marched near the UN headquarters in New York calling for a world without nuclear weapons.
Members of Nihon Hidankyo, also known as the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, and the US groups are in the city to attend a review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which starts on Monday.
They rallied in a park in central New York on Sunday.
Nihon Hidankyo Secretary General Hamasumi Jiro said nuclear weapons and humans cannot coexist. He called for the abolition of nuclear arms.
The participants then marched to the UN Headquarters, chanting “No more hibakusha. No more war.”
Kawazoe Tadako, a survivor of the Nagasaki bombing, said nuclear weapons have spread around the world excessively. She noted she knows the damage they cause, so she will be able to convey to people that nuclear weapons should never be used.
Sugino Nobuko survived the bombing in Hiroshima. She said she is scared that the Earth would be devastated if atomic bombs are dropped. She added she wants people around the globe to learn the horrors of nuclear arms.