Speech by NGO Representative Rebecca Johnson UK, Executive Director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy Minna sama, konnichi wa! Thank you to Mayor Taue, Mr Tsuchiyama and the people of Nagasaki for hosting this Citizens'Assembly and enabling nuclear abolition advocates from all over the world to share our ideas and strategise on ways to create the "peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons" that President Obama called for in Prague last April. And as it is my first time back in Nagasaki after the tragic assassination of Mayor Itoh Iccho, I would like to pay my personal tribute to this great Mayor of Nagasaki, a wonderful advocate of nuclear disarmament, and someone whom our peace movement-and I, personally-miss and deeply mourn. In this opening slide, you see three recent statements by senior Government Ministers. First is Des Browne MP, UK Secretary of State for Defence:"The UK has a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons and, in partnership with everyone who shares that ambition, we intend to make further progress towards this vision in the coming years." Second is from our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who has publicly supported President Obama's call for a nuclear-weapon-free world. Gordon Brown acknowledged: "The nuclear weapons states must set out much more clearly the responsibilities that we too must discharge." And third is from a Foreign Office report titled "Lifting the Nuclear Shadow: Creating the Conditions for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons", which Foreign Secretary David Miliband launched a year ago. This report even talked about "abolition", which used to be considered far too idealistic to be taken seriously. But it focussed mostly on the obstacles, setting conditions that other countries would have to meet in order for Britain to take meaningful steps. "Achieving a global ban on all nuclear weapons requires the creation of conditions which will give confidence to all those who are covered by a nuclear deterrent (over half of the world's population) that their security will be greater in a world without nuclear weapons than with them." Three important statements, but the reality is that the UK government is still tied to its March 2007 decision to build a new fleet of nuclear submarines to carry the next generation of Trident nuclear weapons beyond the year 2050. Yet over 60 percent of British people oppose the replacement of Trident, and over 50 percent think Britain should take the lead on disarmament and scrap the existing Trident system as soon as possible. The reality is that the best that Prime Minister Gordon Brown has offered is to cut UK warheads to 160 and reduce from 4 to 3 subs- that still means we have enough explosive power to destroy a city like Nagasaki over 1,200 times. After leaving office, Des Browne former Defence Secretary, has become more strongly committed to reducing reliance on nuclear weapons and promoting disarmament. Together with Margaret Beckett, a former Foreign Secretary, he founded the "Top Level Group" of former ministers in the Houses of Parliament to consider further steps that Britain could take, including ending continuous at sea deterrence (CASD) patrols and delaying the decision to replace Trident to give a chance for President Obama's initiatives to bear fruit. Recent news reports suggest that the Conservative Party, which is predicted to win the General Election this year, will at least delay the Trident decision for a few years. That might allow time for us to push for total cancellation of the Trident programme. Maybe they've heard our message that TRIDENT DOES NOT PROTECT OR DEFEND US (and it will swallow up billions of pounds when the UK is already weakened economically). But the signs are clear that British politicians are not brave enough to cancel Trident unless the rest of the world demands the abolition of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons have to be delegitimised and devalued. We are working hard to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in UK and NATO doctrines. We are seeking to have the use of nuclear weapons- by anyone, for any reason whatsoever -declared a crime against humanity. Here in Nagasaki, you know this to be true. But the International Court of Justice (ICJ) left open an ambiguous loophole, and we need an international campaign to clearly and unequivocally outlaw the use of nuclear weapons. In the interim we are working with other NATO countries for NATO's Strategic Concept to revise the nuclear doctrine to rule out the first use of nuclear weapons-or at the very least, to ensure that the sole purpose of nuclear weapons is to deter a nuclear attack. In this regard, we are very heartened by the initiatives made by your Foreign Minister, Katsuya Okada in seeking discussions with the US government on denuclearising-or at least reducing the role of nuclear deterrence in -- the US-Japanese security alliance. Also, as you can see from the slide show, British civil society is mobilising as much opposition to Trident renewal as we can, while also joining in global efforts to strengthen nonproliferation and nuclear security, and lay the groundwork for negotiating a nuclear weapons convention. CND and grassroots groups have joined the ICAN campaign and plan demonstrations at Aldermaston and Faslane on June 5th- the International Nuclear Abolition Action Day called by ICAN for the weekend after the NPT Review Conference has ended. Faslane 365 coordinated a yearlong peaceful blockade of the nuclear weapons'homeport at Faslane in Scotland 2006-07. In a wonderful act of solidarity, Hibakusha, activists and students from Nagasaki, Hiroshima, the Peaceboat and elsewhere in Japan joined our protests, bringing to Scotland your messages that Trident should be cancelled to pave the way for all nuclear weapons to be abolished. The demonstrations contributed to the collapse of the Labour Party in Scotland. A new Scottish government was elected that is committed to making Scotland nuclear free, but in accordance with the devolution settlement that created the Scottish Parliament, they have no power to influence defence decisions made in London, including the deployment of nuclear weapons in Scotland. We are keeping up the pressure in Scotland, and have now redoubled our efforts at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston near London, where all British nuclear weapons since 1952 have been designed and built. Aldermaston is being refurbished for new warhead development, with a billion pound super computer and new laser facility. And last month, the nuclear Establishment applied for planning permission to build a new highly enriched uranium handling facility, provoking over a thousand local objections. On February 15, people from all over Britain will participate in a peaceful blockade at Aldermaston to oppose Trident and demand that Britain take the lead in the abolition of nuclear weapons. Participants will include two Nobel laureates; leaders of the major UK faiths - Christian, Jewish and Muslim, including 4 bishops; and many activists from all walks of life. The blockade is being jointly organised by Trident Ploughshares, CND and the Aldermaston Women's Campaign. Mr Tsuchiyama and the organisers of this Assembly propose to send the following solidarity message. If you agree to this message being sent on behalf of all of us, please give your approval by applauding after I have read it: "The Fourth Nagasaki Global Citizens' Assembly for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons send our message of support and solidarity to the participants in the Trident Ploughshares Peaceful Blockade of the UK Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston on February 15, 2010. Gathered in Nagasaki, February 6-8, we citizens of Japan and the world, including Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and our families, demand that no-one should ever again suffer from these terrible and inhumane weapons of mass destruction. Any use of nuclear weapons would be a crime against humanity. We join in your call on the British Government to cancel your Trident nuclear weapons and not replace them, and to become a global leader in supporting the UN Secretary-General's disarmament plan and President Obama's call to build the 'peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons'". Domo arigato gozaimashita.