Youth offer ideas for a nuclear-free world at a forum prior to the foreign ministers’ meeting
Apr. 1, 2016
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer
On March 27, the Foreign Ministry of Japan held a forum entitled “Youth Communicators for a World without Nuclear Weapons” in the East Building of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Naka Ward, with the aim of strengthening momentum for the meeting of foreign ministers to be held on April 10 and 11. Twenty-three young people from in and out of Hiroshima Prefecture, who served as youth communicators, offered ideas about the roles of young people and the efforts and approaches of the Japanese government in order to advance “a nuclear-free world.”
The forum was attended by about 120 local citizens. At the first session, Momoka Namikawa, 17, a second-year high school student at Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, and Shiori Niitani, 17, a junior writer of the Chugoku Shimbun and also a second-year student at Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, represented the youth communicators and read their messages to Fumio Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister. They called for a security system that does not depend on nuclear weapons, as well as the denuclearization of Northeast Asia and South Asia, and stronger efforts to promote peace education. Mr. Kishida responded by saying that their messages are very important and should be taken seriously through careful discussion at the foreign ministers’ meeting next month.
At the second session, 12 youth communicators took the stage and introduced the various activities they have been involved in. These activities include delivering presentations at events linked to the 2015 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) in New York and accompanying a round-the-world voyage on Peace Boat in which A-bomb survivors shared their experiences of the atomic bombings in different parts of the world. The youth communicators said, “We hope that the foreign ministers of each nation will listen to the A-bomb survivors’ accounts carefully and that they will convey what they think and feel to the people of their countries,” and “We hope that their participation in the meeting in Hiroshima will pave the way for their leaders to eventually visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki themselves.”
Sunao Tsuboi, 90, chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo), also spoke at the forum and encouraged young people to continue their activities with unwavering determination.
(Originally published on March 28, 2016)
On March 27, the Foreign Ministry of Japan held a forum entitled “Youth Communicators for a World without Nuclear Weapons” in the East Building of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Naka Ward, with the aim of strengthening momentum for the meeting of foreign ministers to be held on April 10 and 11. Twenty-three young people from in and out of Hiroshima Prefecture, who served as youth communicators, offered ideas about the roles of young people and the efforts and approaches of the Japanese government in order to advance “a nuclear-free world.”
The forum was attended by about 120 local citizens. At the first session, Momoka Namikawa, 17, a second-year high school student at Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, and Shiori Niitani, 17, a junior writer of the Chugoku Shimbun and also a second-year student at Hiroshima Jogakuin High School, represented the youth communicators and read their messages to Fumio Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister. They called for a security system that does not depend on nuclear weapons, as well as the denuclearization of Northeast Asia and South Asia, and stronger efforts to promote peace education. Mr. Kishida responded by saying that their messages are very important and should be taken seriously through careful discussion at the foreign ministers’ meeting next month.
At the second session, 12 youth communicators took the stage and introduced the various activities they have been involved in. These activities include delivering presentations at events linked to the 2015 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) in New York and accompanying a round-the-world voyage on Peace Boat in which A-bomb survivors shared their experiences of the atomic bombings in different parts of the world. The youth communicators said, “We hope that the foreign ministers of each nation will listen to the A-bomb survivors’ accounts carefully and that they will convey what they think and feel to the people of their countries,” and “We hope that their participation in the meeting in Hiroshima will pave the way for their leaders to eventually visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki themselves.”
Sunao Tsuboi, 90, chair of the Hiroshima Prefectural Confederation of A-bomb Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo), also spoke at the forum and encouraged young people to continue their activities with unwavering determination.
(Originally published on March 28, 2016)
