×

News

Experts and young people gather in Hiroshima to discuss how citizens can work together to advance nuclear disarmament

by Aya Kano, Staff Writer

Experts on multinational negotiations involving nuclear disarmament and young people who are engaged in efforts to advance nuclear abolition gathered on March 3 at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Naka Ward. Twenty-three people representing 18 different organizations from inside and outside Hiroshima Prefecture, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), took part in discussions on how to make public opinion count in the quest to realize a nuclear-free world.

Tariq Rauf, a former high-level officer at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was an invited speaker and pointed out that the public has not put sufficient pressure on governments. Tim Caughley, from the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, said that citizens should discuss the cause to promote nuclear disarmament in the run-up to the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 2020.

The participants asked these experts for their ideas on influencing the current impasse in nuclear arms reduction and the Japanese government’s reluctance to change its stance on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. In response, Mr. Caughley made a strong case for the power of young people and online efforts to help strengthen public opinion for nuclear abolition.

The gathering was organized by the Hiroshima Office of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), located in Naka Ward. Yusuke Hasunuma, 27, a curator at the Daigo Fukuryu Maru Exhibition Hall, in Tokyo, said that there are some activities in which members of citizens’ groups of different fields can work together, and that if they join forces, they can raise people’s awareness.

(Originally published on March 4, 2018)

Archives