High school students from Hiroshima help gather 42,676 signatures in support of nuclear abolition
Mar. 26, 2014
by Kohei Okata, Staff Writer
On March 20, high school students leading a campaign called “Nuclear Abolition Now! Signature Drive by Junior and Senior High School Students,” paid a visit to Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui at City Hall to report on their efforts to gather signatures. More than 40,000 signatures were collected during the school year in support of enacting a nuclear weapons convention. Along with Mr. Matsui, representatives of this group will visit United Nations headquarters in New York in April to call for the start of negotiations on the convention.
The 23 students spearheading the campaign are from Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, Shudo Junior High & High School, Hiroshima Gakuin High School, all located in the city of Hiroshima, and Eishin Gakuen in Fukuyama. In all, 42,676 signatures were gathered through the united efforts of students at 37 schools, from northernmost Hokkaido to southernmost Okinawa. The students told Mr. Matsui how they collected signatures at school and on the street, and said, “People expressed their wish for peace when they gave their signatures, and this wish is in our hearts.” Mr. Matsui replied, “Your signature drive is a model for efforts to develop a wider framework for cooperation. I hope this campaign will continue into the future.”
This is the sixth year since the annual campaign was launched by high school students in Hiroshima and Okinawa prefectures in 2008. But it is the first time that signatures will be submitted to the United Nations. Honoka Imai, 17, a second-year student at Hiroshima Jogakuin High School and one of those set to visit the United Nations, said, “To realize the enactment of a nuclear weapons convention, I will convey the wish for peace that we share with the A-bomb survivors.”
(Originally published on March 21, 2014)
On March 20, high school students leading a campaign called “Nuclear Abolition Now! Signature Drive by Junior and Senior High School Students,” paid a visit to Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui at City Hall to report on their efforts to gather signatures. More than 40,000 signatures were collected during the school year in support of enacting a nuclear weapons convention. Along with Mr. Matsui, representatives of this group will visit United Nations headquarters in New York in April to call for the start of negotiations on the convention.
The 23 students spearheading the campaign are from Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, Shudo Junior High & High School, Hiroshima Gakuin High School, all located in the city of Hiroshima, and Eishin Gakuen in Fukuyama. In all, 42,676 signatures were gathered through the united efforts of students at 37 schools, from northernmost Hokkaido to southernmost Okinawa. The students told Mr. Matsui how they collected signatures at school and on the street, and said, “People expressed their wish for peace when they gave their signatures, and this wish is in our hearts.” Mr. Matsui replied, “Your signature drive is a model for efforts to develop a wider framework for cooperation. I hope this campaign will continue into the future.”
This is the sixth year since the annual campaign was launched by high school students in Hiroshima and Okinawa prefectures in 2008. But it is the first time that signatures will be submitted to the United Nations. Honoka Imai, 17, a second-year student at Hiroshima Jogakuin High School and one of those set to visit the United Nations, said, “To realize the enactment of a nuclear weapons convention, I will convey the wish for peace that we share with the A-bomb survivors.”
(Originally published on March 21, 2014)
