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Special Report |
LAST UPDATE January 9, 2009
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| December 16, 2008 |
Hibakusha visit New York and the United Nations to Appeal for a Nuclear Free World |
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The delegation of Hibakusha at the United Nations Headquarters in New York; from left to right - Setsuko Thurlow, Nakamura Kikuyo, Morita Takashi, Yoshida Isao |
A delegation of four Hibakusha (Atomic Bomb Survivors) traveled from the Peace Boat to New York for ten days full of programmes, from the United Nations to the public schools. The trip was timed to coincide with the United Nation’s General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, where the Hibakusha delegation made a dramatic appeal for a nuclear free world. |
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| Dinner hosted by the Japanese Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, H.E. Mr Tarui Sumio (centre) |
The four survivors arrived on October 22 and were welcomed with a dinner hosted by the Japanese Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, H.E. Mr Tarui Sumio. The dinner was attended by the Conference on Disarmament delegates from Japan as well as representatives of other NGOs working on disarmament at the United Nations, including Reaching Critical Will of WILPF (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom), a key organizing partner for the New York Hibakusha Program. A second welcome party was hosted the following evening by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Organizations of New York, where a beautiful sushi dinner was enjoyed by all. |
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| The Plenary session of “Seizing the Moment”, held at the UN Headquarters |
October 24 was spent at the United Nations, where the Hibakusha delegation attended an event hosted by the East West Institute, “Seizing the Moment.” The event aimed to discuss concrete strategies to build upon the momentum from recent international moves to break the current disarmament stalemate, such as the call to eliminate nuclear weapons by four prominent statesmen, Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, Sam Nunn and Bill Perry. The conference drew key figures from around the world, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, and representatives from China, India, Pakistan, Japan and several other countries |
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| The Hibakusha delegates at the East West Institute event |
In his opening remarks, Ban Ki Moon made an historical call for a five-point proposal for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons, including a call for a Nuclear Weapons Convention. In the afternoon, the four Hibakusha divided into different strategy sessions, “Getting to Zero,” “Deligitimitizing Nuclear Weapons”, and “Achieving a Nuclear-weapons Convention,” where each made an intervention appealing for nuclear abolition. |
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Nakamura Kikuyo (left) presenting the origami cranes to Mayor Akiba (right) and Sergio Duarte, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs (centre) |
Monday October 27 was perhaps the most profound day of the New York programme. In the morning the delegation joined Mayor Dr Akiba Tadatoshi of Hiroshima at the UN for the Opening Ceremony of a photo exhibition of Hiroshima and Nagasaki hosted by Mayors for Peace. Hibakusha Nakamura Kikuyo presented Mayor Akiba with 1,000 origami cranes to be displayed at the exhibition. Mayor Akiba, in New York to deliver over 370,000 signatures calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons to the President of the UN General Assembly, made a heart-felt statement in support of Peace Boat’s Hibakusha Project. |
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| The UN General Assembly official side event, “HIBAKUSHA (A-Bomb Survivors) APPEAL FOR A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD” |
Following the Opening Ceremony, the Hibakusha delegation spoke in a panel discussion sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN and the Japanese Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament, along with Hanifa Mezoui, Chief of the NGO Section of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and Kathleen Sullivan, Education Consultant to the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs. All four Atomic Bomb Survivors shared their personal stories of the horror they faced in Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the bombs were dropped and in the aftermath. They discussed not only how they were affected by the incident, but how it also affected their families and even their unborn children. The audience was filled with media, members of NGOs and government officials, all deeply touched by the stories they were hearing first hand. |
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| Setsuko Thurlow addressing the First Committee, supported from behind by her fellow Hibakusha delegates |
Following the event, the Hibakusha spoke to the General Assembly's First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in a call demanding a nuclear-free world. Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor from Hiroshima currently residing in Canada, spoke on behalf of the group. The other three members stood in support behind her as she shared her personal story of survival with diplomats from around the world. She warned against the horrors of nuclear weapons and demanded that nuclear weapon states fulfill their disarmament obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and bring the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) into force. She reminded the audience "that humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist, and the only way to have security and peace is through the total abolition of nuclear weapons." Read her full speech here |
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| Giving testimony to students at Poly Prep High School |
After several successful days of presentations at the UN, the four survivors participated in further programmes throughout New York where they shared their testimonies with people who had never before met an atomic bomb survivor. They touched the lives of hundreds of youth at Jamaica High School in Queens as well as at Poly Prep High School in Brooklyn. |
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| Morita Takashi being interviewed for UN Radio |
The delegation concluded their stay in New York with an afternoon spent with UN Radio. Each survivor was able to record their individual story, which will become a part of the UN Cyberschool Bus’ Disarmament and Non-proliferation website. Their stories, told over many days in New York, will be now be able to be heard from all corners of the globe through this UN Radio production. |
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| The Hibakusha delegates at Jamaica High School, with disarmament and peace educator Kathleen Sullivan (left) |
These four Hibakusha must be commended for their tremendous strength, to relive their stories over and over in order to educate youth, motivate disarmament activists and pressure the member states of the United Nations to take action. They spent their ten days in New York always with a smile and with the energy to reach individual after individual, sharing their invaluable stories in order to promote a more peaceful existence. On October 31 the four Hibakusha flew back to Greece to rejoin the Peace Boat, leaving many new friends in the UN community and in New York reinvigorated to work for a world free of nuclear weapons.
View a video of the Hibakusha project in New York online here |
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