Interview with Rose Gottemoeller, Under Secretary of U.S. State Department: "Deep human sympathy"

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http://www.hiroshimapeacemedia.jp/mediacenter/article.php?story=20140414104637612_en

Interview with Rose Gottemoeller, Under Secretary of U.S. State Department: “Deep human sympathy”

April 17, 2014

Gottemoeller offers flowers at Cenotaph for A-bomb Victims, hopes to raise interest in ratification of CTBT

by Yumi Kanazaki, Staff Writer

Rose Gottemoeller, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security for the U.S. State Department, granted an exclusive interview to the Chugoku Shimbun on April 11. Ms. Gottemoeller is visiting Hiroshima to take part as a guest in the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative (NPDI) Ministerial Meeting. According to the Hiroshima city government, she is the first Undersecretary of the U.S. State Department to offer flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Ms. Gottemoeller commented, “I felt deep human sympathy” in “a place where many suffered and died.”

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Civil society and some national governments have begun pursuing a path toward negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention by discussing the humanitarian dimension of nuclear arms. What is the U.S. stance?

We have our partners in civil society. But I feel they don’t know enough about the very practical progress we’ve actually made with our step by step approach to nuclear disarmament. We have a far smaller number of weapons now (than during the height of the Cold War). We need to tell our story better. We are never working hard enough, I do admit that. But we are working very hard to rid the world of nuclear weapons. The president continues to be very, very committed to this goal.

The third conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons will be held in Austria this autumn. Will you consider taking part in the conference?

We have been very interested in the way we could use the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons use as a way to really educate people. This is why my visit to the museum today was so valuable. You can really understand the terrible impact on human health, the economy, and the environment. We would like to work with the Austrian government to make the conference a real opportunity for education. If we are able to make this point clear, I think we would consider coming to the conference.

(Originally published on April 12, 2014)

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1. Via The Los Alamos Study Group

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