A UN Side Event on the “Appeal of the Hibakusha” with More Than 10 Million Signatures Calling for a

On October 11, 2019, at the UN Headquarters in New York, the Austrian Mission and Hibakusha Appeal hosted a side event, with the support of SGI and Peace Boat, where Ambassador H.E. Jan Kickert of the Austria Mission to the UN warmly recognized ICAN partners' efforts as a driving force to make the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) more widely accepted and expressed his gratitude especially to the life-long dedication of the hibakusha.

Toshiki Fujimori, assistant secretary general of Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations) and a Hiroshima A-bomb survivor himself, shared his own powerful experience of being a hibakusha, having lost six of his family members, and having fought for a world free from nuclear weapons so that no one else suffers the same. Keina Suzuki of Hibakusha Appeal gave her experience as a youth inspired by the hibakusha and dedicating herself to nuclear disarmament, and calling for urgent collective action toward a world free from nuclear weapons. Kimiaki Kawai of SGI introduced the statement delivered by SGI: "The entry into force and implementation of the TPNW will help bring humanity back from the brink of nuclear disaster and open the way to a more secure future for us."