Warnings over nuclear weapons as 1945 Hiroshima bombing remembered

THE 77TH ANNIVERSARY of the first atomic bomb attack has been marked across the world, including in Dublin’s Merrion Square.

Around 140,000 people died when Hiroshima was bombed by the United States on August 6, 1945, a toll that includes those who perished after the blast from radiation exposure.

The head of the UN has used the commemoration to warn that “humantiy is playign with a loaded gun” and needed to disarm in the face of rising global tensions, while Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said the world is “facing heightened nuclear danger” through Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

He further urged nuclear disarmament when nations meet this month in New York to review the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT). 

The Treaty entered into force in 1970 and is the main international mechanism for controlling the spread of nuclear weapons, and contains the only multilateral commitment to nuclear disarmament in the text of a treaty by the US, UK, France, Russia and China.

It has its origins in resolutions presented by Ireland to the General Assembly from 1958 – 1961.

“Seventy-seven years after the utter destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world is facing heightened nuclear danger,” Coveney said in a statement.

“Russia has threatened use of nuclear weapons in the conduct of its war of aggression against Ukraine.

“Russia’s nuclear rhetoric, as well as its reckless military actions in and near civilian nuclear facilities, are wholly unacceptable. The risks posed by these actions serve as an urgent reminder that the lack of progress on nuclear disarmament undermines global security.”

The Cork Fine Gael TD added that it was important to remember who lost their lives in the bombings and to also pay tribute to the “dignity, courage and resilience” of those who survived, not just Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also the victims and survivors of nuclear tests that occurred in the 20th century. 

“Despite the current difficult context, it is vital that countries meeting in the framework of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York, agree concrete actions on nuclear disarmament, including urgent action to reduce nuclear risks.

“We can delay no longer. These indiscriminate weapons, which threaten the safety of humanity and our planet, must be put beyond use. Ireland is ready to work with all states to progress this goal.”

In Merrion Square, a ceremony took place at a memorial cherry tree planted by Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in 1980.

President of Irish CND, Canon Patrick Comerford, said that never before has the need for nuclear disarmament been greater. 

He called for their “complete abolition”. 

“We need to campaign for a commitment from the nuclear powers, to give a commitment not to use their nuclear weapons and to reduce their stockpiles.

“We need to remind the world that just one nuclear weapon 77 years ago on 6 August 1945 wiped out 200,000 people in Hiroshima – and that nuclear weapon was smaller than any of the intermediate-range nuclear missiles that we are being threatened with use today.” 

Meanwhile, UN head Antonio Guterres said “humanity is playing with a loaded gun” as risks are posed by crises in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Korean peninsula as he described the horrors endured by the Japanese city.

“Tens of thousands of people were killed in this city in the blink of an eye. Women, children and men were incinerated in a hellish fire,” he said at a memorial in Japan. 

Survivors were “cursed with a radioactive legacy” of cancer and other health problems.

“We must ask: What have we learned from the mushroom cloud that swelled above this city?”

Today, “crises with grave nuclear undertones are spreading fast,” Guterres said, repeating warnings he made this week at a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference in New York.

“Humanity is playing with a loaded gun.”

Before dawn, survivors and their relatives began to gather at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park to pay tribute to the victims.

A silent prayer was held at 8.15 am, the moment the bomb was dropped.

The Russian ambassador was not invited to the ceremony but visited Hiroshima on Thursday to lay flowers at the memorial site.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, President Vladimir Putin has made thinly veiled threats hinting at a willingness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons.

With reporting by AFP