From Pax Christi International
Dear Friends of the Viennese Peace Movement & the Hiroshima Group Vienna,
Today you came together in Vienna to commemorate the victims of the atomic bombs deployed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All over the world, people are gathering in different manifestations and sharing the common message to never forget the enormous loss of life and devastation caused by these terrible indiscriminate and massively destructive weapons.
The deployment of the nuclear weapons in 1945 remains a defeat for humanity. Even after 65 years, the civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still suffer from the effects of these bombs. This thriving tragedy should be an eye opener and a testament to the world to “never again” use weapons of that magnitude.
Despite 66 years of pleading and campaigning, nations still maintain nuclear weapon arsenals. While states have engaged in reduction of these weapons, we witnessed the dynamics of regional nuclearization and the modernization of existing arsenals and weapon systems. While people are confronted with economic hardship, military budgets continue to increase.
Pax Christi International has been engaged for decades in local and international initiatives for nuclear disarmament. We believe it is our duty to contribute to the plea heard 66 years ago in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Therefore we salute every participant in tonight’s commemorations across the world and encourage them to repeat the message we are speaking out tonight: only a world free of nuclear weapons, liberated from armed conflict and war, can do justice to the legacy of every victim of war.
Brussels, August 2011