April 22, 2023
Request for Endorsements
Don’t Contaminate Ukrainian Soil with Depleted Uranium Weapons
——-An Urgent Appeal to the G7 Hiroshima Summit (May 19-21, 2023)
By the Citizens’ Network Opposing the Use of DU Weapons in Ukraine (＊)
Deeply concerned about the grave situation created by the war in Ukraine, we, the undersigned, feel an unprecedent sense of crisis. With nuclear plants in the line of fire and frequent threats to use nuclear weapons, we feel catastrophe looming ever closer. And now, in this context, we hear that depleted uranium (DU) ammunitions are being delivered to Ukraine by the U.K..
DU munitions are made of nuclear waste. If used in Ukraine, many Ukrainians will be harmed and the natural environment will likely be irreparably contaminated. Thus, while hoping above all for a prompt end to the war, we demand that the countries involved in the G7 Hiroshima Summit take the following actions:
- Japan, the host of the G7 Hiroshima Summit, should issue emphatic appeals at the G7 Summit regarding the inhumanity of both DU and nuclear weapons, arousing international public opposition to the use of these weapons in Ukraine.
- The U.K. should halt delivery of DU munitions to Ukraine and withdraw immediately those already delivered.
- If the Russian military has already used DU munitions in Ukraine, the danger of which Russia itself has admitted, they should disclose the locations where they have used them. It should do its utmost to repair the damage, cooperating with efforts to help the natural environment recover.
- Ukraine should refuse to use the DU ammunitions supplied by the U.K. DU munitions will, in all likelihood, harm the health of Ukrainian soldiers and people, and the contamination will make postwar recovery even more difficult.
Please endorse this appeal, Don’t Contaminate Ukrainian Soil with Depleted Uranium Weapons, at Change.org (chng.it/Dcy9DxmJGy) by May 7, 2023, though your signatures will be appreciated even after this date. By signing you will strengthen our efforts to highlight this issue prior to and during the G7 Hiroshima Summit to be held May 19-21 in Hiroshima.
We will try our best to draw the attention of the G7 leaders and the hundreds of journalists who will gather from around Japan and the world to this urgent and global issue. Contact: hibakushaforum@gmail.com
For the list of initiators and the reasons for this appeal, please see the following pages.
＊This appeal follows the “Statement against the delivery of depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine by the British Government” delivered to the U.K. ambassador to Japan on April 12, 2023, and its content is based on the appeal issued by HANWA (Hiroshima Alliance for Nuclear Weapons Abolition) on March 27, 2023. Both of these appeals are uploaded at the online signature site for this appeal.
