Ban stresses need for nuclear weapons-free world

UNITED NATIONS: The 62nd anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack which devastated the Japanese city of Hiroshima serves as a 'powerful reminder' of efforts needed to halt nuclear proliferation, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said.

"Today, our challenge, as it was for the founders of the United Nations, is to make the world safer for succeeding generations," Ban said in a message delivered by UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Sergio de Queiroz Duarte to the Peace Memorial Ceremony in Japan on Monday.

"This requires us to continue to work towards a world free of nuclear dangers, and ultimately, of nuclear weapons."

In this context, Ban noted that the nuclear threat has been compounded by terrorists' attempts to acquire weapons and materials.

He paid special tribute to the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who, along with their predecessors, have promoted the 'Mayors for Peace' initiative, which now has support from over 1,600 mayors in 120 countries, for the last quarter century.

"It has not only helped inform millions of people around the world of the catastrophic effects of the nuclear attacks of 1945," the Secretary-General said of the programme, which 'has also drawn attention to the dangers that cities would face with any future use of such weapons.'

The Secretary-General paid tribute to the memory of Sadako Sasaki, who was two years old when Hiroshima was attacked by the bomb and died a decade later from the 'atom bomb disease.' Before her death, she folded one thousand origami peace cranes and her words, This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the world, is inscribed under her statue in the Hiroshima Peace Park.

"We must do all we can to turn back the tide of nuclear proliferation, and ensure that Sadako's experience is never repeated," Ban said.