We, citizens of the world

Are extremely concerned by the terrifically poor handling of the Fukushima catastrophe by TEPCO.

Did the company wish to privilege its own interests, aiming at a hypothetical re-start of the power plant? In any case, it acted covertly and used only a part of the appropriate means to protect the people of neighboring areas, the Japanese people in its whole, and all peoples and ecosystems of the planet. TEPCO did not apply the principle of precaution for maximal prevention of nuclear disaster and contamination of the environment.

Despite some protests, the Japanese State has merely forwarded the information provided by the company, which acts in an opaque fashion. Experts from various countries have been called in without having any effect on decisions taken. The demands of the NGOs present on site, particularly Greenpeace and CRIIRAD, for an increased protection of the population and greater transparency of information, did not get more answers than those of the Japanese people.

We believe urgent that TEPCO’s actions are placed under international civic control on behalf of human and environmental rights, concerning in particular the ocean.

We call on civic associations, scientists, States, inter-governmental agencies for a major rise in awareness and action to demand an international and civic authority in response to the Fukushima catastrophe, and beyond, of all high-risk sites in the world.

State authorities are too closely tied to the nuclear industry to be efficient barriers against their action. Local technicians cannot be left alone to cope with all difficulties, without any higher authority and any communication with external world, which is moreover faced with a growing number of incidents remaining veiled untill now.

The Earth as a whole is our common concern; the general interest should prevail over managerial and State forms of reasoning and power. It is high time that citizens play a role at the international level in the technical evaluations which legitimize installations that compromise our living conditions.

The United Nations must reorganize the control over the Fukushima catastrophe and involve all forms of technical and political cooperation, including from NGOs. Only in this way can we work towards new procedures and pathways uniting scientists, technicians and citizens in the prevention of major risks in industrial and energetic decisions.

I sign

More info on the appeal