Purpose of the
World Nuclear Victims Forum 2025

The nuclear cycle has led to extensive environmental pollution and serious impacts on the human body due to radioactivity at every stage, starting with uranium mining, milling, nuclear weapons and fuel productions, nuclear testing, nuclear weapons use, nuclear power plant operation, nuclear disasters, reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, storage and disposal of nuclear waste, and use of depleted uranium weapons.
 We have investigated and reported these serious consequences at uranium mining sites in India, the United States, and other countries; the sites in Iraq where depleted uranium munitions were fired; the sites of downwind residents at the Nevada nuclear test site; and the sites impacted by nuclear tests in the South Pacific and around the world. In addition, we have verified, investigated, and supported the communities where the lives, health, livelihoods, and natural environment were destroyed by nuclear disasters in Chernobyl and Fukushima.
 Uranium mining, milling, nuclear testing, and disposal of nuclear waste have been carried out on indigenous lands and in oppressed former colonies. What they have in common is that the victims are always vulnerable. What we always witness there is a handful of those in power, for the benefit of their interest, gratuitously and unjustly trampling on the people. The selfish actions of those in power who profit at the expense of people cannot be tolerated, and we must face the fact that their actions are now leading us to nuclear war, the climate crisis, and the danger of human extinction.
 The Declaration of the World Nuclear Victims Forum in Hiroshima, adopted at the World Nuclear Victims Forum in 2015 in the year of the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings, defined nuclear victims “in the narrow sense of not distinguishing between victims of military and industrial nuclear use, including victims of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and of nuclear testing, as well as victims of exposure to radiation and radioactive contamination created by the entire process including uranium mining and milling, and nuclear development, use and waste." In addition, we reaffirmed that “until we end the nuclear age, any person anywhere could at any time become a victim=a potential Hibakusha, and that nuclear weapons, nuclear power and humanity cannot coexist.”
 Since then, the world has been exposed to the reality of even more severe nuclear damage. To coincide with the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2025, we will once again hold the World Nuclear Victims Forum in Hiroshima.
 In January 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force, marking a first step toward the end of the nuclear age. We commend the Treaty for defining the illegality of nuclear weapons and the obligation of States Parties to provide assistance to nuclear victims. The world is now facing a growing danger of nuclear war, with the war in Ukraine, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the threat of the use of nuclear weapons as a means of regional warfare amid the crisis in the Middle East. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was established based on the experiences of atomic bomb survivors and victims of nuclear tests, who have spoken out against the extreme inhumanity of nuclear war, and the movement to share those experiences. However, contrary to the pleas of the atomic bomb survivors that nuclear weapons cannot be abolished without the relief of nuclear victims around the world, the narrow definition of nuclear victims as those “affected by the use or testing of nuclear weapons" means that many nuclear victims, including Indigenous Peoples, are ignored. Furthermore, there are serious issues, such as the fact that the "peaceful use" of nuclear energy is recognized as an inalienable right, and that the perpetrators are not properly held accountable. Therefore, efforts to overcome these challenges are also important.
 For more than 80 years, the nuclear industry and countries that have promoted the use of nuclear cycle have created nuclear victims all over the world, regardless of whether it is used for military purposes or "peaceful" uses. Much of the nuclear impacts have been inflicted on Indigenous and colonized peoples. Even after the serious nuclear disasters in Chernobyl and Fukushima, these countries and the nuclear industry are trying to further expand their negative impact by parading nuclear energy as a climate solution.
 In order to prevent further nuclear damage in the world, we will strengthen the international network of efforts to break the entire cycle of nuclear use. To this end, we would like to create a place of international solidarity in Hiroshima for nuclear victims and their allies, aiming for the elimination of the nuclear cycle and a world in which no more hibakusha are created, by gathering nuclear victims, including Indigenous Peoples who are fighting in nuclear-affected communities, and medical, scientific and legal experts to thoroughly unveil the full extent of the nuclear impacts and aim for the total elimination of the nuclear cycle, for a world in which no more nuclear victims are created.
 At the World Nuclear Victims Forum 2025, we will discuss with a wide range of participants action plans aiming for the relief of nuclear victims and the establishment of their rights, which reflect the experiences and voices of nuclear victims. Concrete action plans from the perspectives of affected communities will be shared with the international community, including Indigenous Peoples and people in the global south, and we will utilize the Forum to disseminate guidelines for the total elimination of nuclear use.
 Building on the outcomes of the 2015 Forum, we will further develop the Draft Elements of a World Charter of the Rights of Nuclear Victims. Let us share the outcome documents to the world as a guideline for providing relief to nuclear victims around the world, establishing the rights and compensation for nuclear victims, and eliminating nuclear use.
 Relief and establishment of human rights for nuclear victims! Let's gather in Hiroshima with nuclear victims around the world and forge bonds of solidarity!

2025年世界核被害者フォーラム　開催目的

核利用サイクルはウラン採掘に始まり、精錬、核兵器・核燃料製造、核実験、核兵器使用、原発稼働、原発事故、使用済み核燃料の再処理、核廃棄物の保管・処分、劣化ウラン兵器使用など、あらゆる段階で放射能による広範な環境汚染と人体への深刻な影響をもたらしてきた。

 私たちは、インドやアメリカなどのウラン鉱山採掘現場、劣化ウラン弾を撃ち込まれたイラクの現場、ネバダ核実験場の風下住民の現場や南太平洋の島々と世界各地の核実験場の現場を調査し深刻な被害実態を告発してきた。また、原発重大事故に遭ったチェルノブイリ、福島の人々がその生命、健康、生活、自然環境を失わされ破壊された現場の状況を、検証・調査・支援してきた。

 ウランの採掘、精練、核実験、核廃棄物の処理などは、先住民の人々の土地や抑圧された旧植民地で行われてきている。被害現場に共通しているのは、被害者たちが、常に無防備で弱者の立場にあることだ。いつもそこに見られるのは、一握りの権力者、資本の利益のために、いわれも無く理不尽に踏みにじられる民衆の犠牲だ。その犠牲の上に利益を上げる権力者の利己的な行動は許されないし、その行動が今や核戦争を招き、地球の気象変動をもたらし、人類を絶滅に追いやる危機を招来していることを私たちは直視しよう。

 2015年被爆70周年に広島で開催した「世界核被害者フォーラム」で採択した「広島宣言」では、核被害者を「原爆の被爆者、核実験被害者、核の軍事利用と産業利用の別を問わず、ウラン採掘、製錬、核の開発・利用・廃棄の全過程で生じた放射線被曝と放射能汚染による被害者すべてを含む」とした。また、「核時代を終わらせない限り人類はいつでも核被害者＝ヒバクシャになりうることを認識して、核と人類は共存できないことをあらためて確認」した。

 そのときより世界はもっと厳しい核被害の現実にさらされている。私たちは、2025年広島・長崎被爆80周年に合わせて、『核のない未来を！世界核被害者フォーラム』を再び広島の地で開催する。

 2021年1月には、核兵器禁止条約が発効し、核時代の終焉の一歩を刻んだ。核兵器の違法性と締約国による核被害者の救済の義務を定めたことは評価に値する。いま世界は、ウクライナ戦争、ガザで続くジェノサイド、中東危機の中で核兵器使用の威嚇が地域戦争の手段とされるなど、核戦争への危機が高まっている。核兵器禁止条約は、核戦争による非人道性の極みを訴え闘ってきた原爆被爆者、核実験被害者たちの体験と、それを共有する運動の上に成立した。しかし、世界各地の核被害者の救済なくして核廃絶はないという被爆者らの訴えに反し、核被害者を「核兵器の使用と実験」によって影響を受けた者と狭く定義づけているため、多くの先住民を含む核被害者が切り捨てられている問題がある。また、原子力の「平和利用」を奪い得ない権利と定めていること、加害者責任が明確にされていないことなどの致命的な問題もあり、これを是正させる取り組みが重要となっている。

 80余年にわたり、核利用を進めてきた国々と核産業は、核の軍事利用あるいは「平和」利用を問わず、世界中に核被害者＝ヒバクシャを生み出してきた。核被害の多くは、先住民や植民地支配の下に置かれた人々に押し付けられてきた。そして、チェルノブイリ、福島の原発重大事故を起こしてもなお、これらの国々と核産業は、「地球温暖化対策」を口実に原発推進を掲げ、核被害をさらに拡大させようとしている。

 私たちは、世界で核被害をこれ以上ふやさないため、全ての核利用サイクルを断つ闘いの国際的ネットワークを強めよう。そのために、核被害地で闘う先住民を含む核被害者、運動家をはじめ、医科学的・法律的専門家を結集し、核がもたらしている被害の全容を徹底的に明らかにし、核利用の根底的な廃絶とこれ以上ヒバクシャをつくらない世界を目指し、核被害者および核被害者と共に闘う人々の国際的連帯の場を広島で作り出したい。

 2025年のフォーラムでは、核被害者の実体験と訴えを反映させた核被害者救済と権利確立を目的とする行動指針を幅広い層の参加者と議論する。具体的な当事者目線の行動要綱は、先住民族やグローバルサウスを含む国際社会へ向けて発信し、核の根絶への指針として世界に普及を図る場を作り出す。

 2015年フォーラムの成果を引き継ぎ、「世界放射線被害者人権憲章」をさらに発展させ、世界の核被害者への救援、核被害者の権利と補償の確立、核利用の根絶への指針として世界に広めていこう。

ヒバクシャの救済と人権獲得を！
世界の核被害者と共にヒロシマに集い、連帯の絆を結ぼう！

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