Youth Gather in Hiroshima for a Nuclear Abolition Summit

30 youth activists and experts from 23 countries gathered in Hiroshima for the International Youth Summit for Nuclear Abolition. Working Sessions were held on 28th and 29th including a visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

The participants also met with survivors of the atomic bombing, discussed future strategies aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons and created a “Youth Pledge” in which they call nuclear weapons a symbol of a bygone age.

The full pledge can be read and signed here.

On the last day, some 250 participants joined a wider public forum at which summit co-chairs Rick Wayman of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) and Anna Ikeda of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) presented the Youth Pledge to Ahmad Alhendawi, the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth.

Alhendawi urged, “Let’s be the generation that makes peace possible. This youth summit is sending a strong message to the world, that the youth are for peace and for a nuclear-free-world, and the world must listen.”

The event was coordinated by representatives of ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), Mines Action Canada, NAPF, PAX, SGI and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).