Hibakusha recognised

News in Brief

Just weeks before the latest commemorations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August, a Japanese court ruled that victims of the radioactive ‘black rain’ caused by the US atomic bombings should be also considered hibakusha (‘bomb-affected people’).

They should receive the same benefits as other recognised survivors even though they lived beyond the officially-recognised contamination zone.

Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga (who has since stepped down) declared that his government would not appeal against the ruling. He even suggested that relief might be extended to other affected people beyond the 84 plaintiffs in the case.