On October 24, 2014, the United Nations Fourth Committee met to consider the effects of atomic radiation, for which it had before it the latest reports of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and take action on a draft decision entitled Effects of atomic radiation which would have the General Assembly request the United Nations Environment Programme to continue, within existing resources, to actively support the effective conduct of the work of the Scientific Committee and the dissemination of its findings.
In advance to the meeting, Mr. Alfred Meyer of Physicians for Social Responsibilities (PSR) has handed the joint statement “Civil Society groups request revision of the recent United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) Report: ‘Levels and effects of radiation exposure due to the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East-Japan Earthquake and tsunami.'”[i] to Mr. Malcolm J. Crick (Secretary of the UNSCEAR) and the other delegate members of the Committee.
In the meeting, 13 states including Japan has made their respective statements.
The statement by the Japanese delegate mentioned, among other items, its appreciation to the UNSCEAR Report “Sources, Effects and Risks of Ionizing Radiation” which indicated that the “cancer rates would remain stable following the accident” together with the voluntary donation of $863,000 made by the Japanese government to the UNSCEAR this February.
Other state members which made the statements were MERCOSUR, EU, Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Belarus, Ukraine, Iraq, India, Jordan, China and Iran. The text of the respective statements are available at the UN website.[ii]
Following the statements, the draft resolution was introduced by the Australian representative and was adopted without a vote.
Human Rights Now would like to once again thank to all of the organizations who have cooperated in this joint statement, and expresses our continued commitment on this issue.
[i] http://hrn.or.jp/eng/news/2014/10/29/japanese-civil-society-and-that-from-7-other-countries-request-the-reports-of-the-united-nations-scientific-committee-on-fukushima-to-be-revised/
[ii] http://papersmart.unmeetings.org/ga/fourth/69th-session/agenda/
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