Philadelphia, PA – On January 23, two members of the Green Party of United States (GPUS) delivered an open letter and three other documents to Ambassador Inga Rhonda King, president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESC). This open letter had been adopted by the GPUS National Committee, and it asked UNESC to listen to and talk with three speakers called by GPUS. At this audience, UNESC could have speakers with views opposing those of GPUS. 

Green Party of Pennsylvania
www.gpofpa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2019

Contact:
Thomas Bailey, 724-887-0952, [email protected]
Stephen Verchinski, [email protected]

Speakers would consider this topic: Has the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) provided for the public safety of the residents of Japan and the world community after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, as required by the International Atomic Energy Treaty (IAET), Article III, Section A, paragraphs 6 and 7.

Ultimately, GPUS requests the IAE to take over the operation and control of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Fuku Station) from the Japanese government. Ongoing human rights violations and continuous releases of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean merit direct action by the world community. GPUS expects UNESC to hold nations accountable to international law and to use the powers granted to it by the IAET.

Next, the two GPUS delegates, Thomas Bailey and Stephen Verchinski, delivered copies of the same open letter to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Verchinski, is a delegate from New Mexico to both GPUS International and Eco-Action Committees. Bailey, is a delegate from Pennsylvania to GPUS International Committee.

Bailey said, "We feel that the Japanese government is violating the human rights of everyone inside Japan by exposing them to excessive amounts of radiation leaving Fuku Station. The Japanese government is releasing 300 tons of Fuku-sourced radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean each day. Their government controls Fuku Station now. They should protect their own residents and the Pacific, not host the 2020 Olympics."

Almost eight years have elapsed since the Great Earthquake, accompanying huge tsunami and subsequent disaster at Fuku Station, owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The Japanese government took over the maintenance and operation of Fuku Station from TEPCO in 2013. The open letter explains two legal rationales for UN action now.

One involves the IAEA and the safety standards it has established globally. The Japanese government declared Fuku Station to be a Level 7 "nuclear exposure event," the most dangerous on the International Nuclear and Radiation Event Scale. As a consequence, the International Commission on Radiation Protection raised the maximum permissible amount of radiation the residents of Japan were forced to endure twenty fold!

UN Special Rapporteurs Grover in 2013 and Tuncak in 2017 directed the Japanese government to reduce the maximum permissible radiation dosage back to one millisevert per year. While the Japanese government agreed to reduce the dosage in March, 2018, it has refused to do so to date.

Delegates from the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) proposed these actions originally to the GPUS National Committee. GPPA urges others to consider sending their own open letter to Ambassador King, [email protected], supporting this action by GPUS.

The Green Party is an independent political party that stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPPA candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party four pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPPA, please visit www.gpofpa.org. Follow GPPA on social media: Facebook, Green Party of Pennsylvania and Twitter, @GreenPartyofPA.

Further information:

Green Party Requests UN to Takeover Fukushima Reactors
GPPA News Release, January 10, 2019

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