UN Conference on Disarmament Issues in Hiroshima―Towards Realizing a World Free of Nuclear Weapons

The 27th United Nations Conference on Disarmament Issues was held in Hiroshima from November 29 to 30 under the theme “Towards Realizing a World Free of Nuclear Weapons―Paving the Way to Achieve the Common Goal.” The conference, organized by the Office for Disarmament Affairs, through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific, in cooperation with the Government of Japan and in partnership with the Prefecture of Hiroshima and the City of Hiroshima, brought together 60 representatives of governmental and intergovernmental organizations, as well as research institutes, academia and nongovernmental organizations from 12 countries to reflect on the prospects for a world free from nuclear weapons, taking into accou

nt recent and current developments and their impact in the lead-up to the 2020 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. Kazuo Ishiwatari, Chair of the Soka Gakkai Peace Committee and Kimiaki Kawai, Director of the Soka Gakkai Peace Committee, participated in the discussions during the conference. Prior to the conference, on November 28, Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and Japanese NGOs had a discussion to reaffirm the importance of the role that civil society can play in raising public awareness to strengthen and realize broader support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in a more universalized way. Kimiaki Kawai joined the discussion as one of the speakers where he encouraged the UN to take a lead in debates on nuclear weapons and to put forward a new vision of security, one that is easily understood, robust, and appealing, based on the universal human desire to protect the things we treasure. We need to awaken people from the present nightmare of nuclear deterrence with the bright lights of a new vision.