On 24 June, Hayley Ramsay-Jones of SGI joined the virtual launch event of WCAPS-UK, the UK branch of the Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security, as a panelist. WCAPS was created three years ago in the United States and aims to advance the leadership and professional development of women of color in the fields of international policy-making, disarmament, peace, …
Joint Interfaith Statement on the 75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 189 groups from around the world endorsed a joint interfaith statement coordinated by Faith Communities Concerned About Nuclear Weapons, to speak in one voice and reject the existential threat to humanity posed by nuclear weapons. The statement reaffirms that the presence of even one nuclear weapon violates the core …
Celebrating Caribbean leadership! 19-20 June 2020 marks the one-year anniversary of the Caribbean Forum on the TPNW
Celebrating Caribbean leadership! 19-20 June 2020 marks the one-year anniversary of the Caribbean Forum on the TPNW “Like all Small Island Developing States, we view the prospects of a nuclear detonation, whether by design, accident or negligence, as an existential horror that could decimate the entire Caribbean region.” Shorna-Kay Richards, former Deputy Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the United Nations. …
Online World Conference 2020 Youth Assembly
The online Youth Assembly took place on 2 May, attended by over 370 participants. The event was initially scheduled for 24 April as part of the World Conference 2020, right before the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), but it was transformed into an online meeting due to the COVID-19 outbreak. …
Second Global Meeting of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots
The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots held its second global meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 26 to 28 February. Over 80 campaigners gathered from around the world in the three-day event. Anna Ikeda of SGI participated. The overall goal of the meeting was to come together as the overall Campaign to discuss the urgency of launching multilateral negotiations on …
SGI’s 2020 peace proposal published on 26 January
On 26 January 2020, the 38th annual peace proposal of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), titled “Toward Our Shared Future: Constructing an Era of Human Solidarity”, authored by its President Daisaku Ikeda, was released, marking the 45th anniversary of the founding of the SGI. Climate action and nuclear weapons abolition are the main themes of SGI’s 2020 peace proposal, with …
Interview with Dr. Betty Reardon, Peace Educator
Dr. Betty Reardon, a peace educator, was interviewed by the Seikyo Shimbun, a Japanese daily newspaper, as part of its monthly Culture of Peace informational series throughout 2019 to mark the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (UN General Assembly Resolution A/53/243) this year. Dr. Reardon gives insights into what …
Interview with Ms. Beatrice Fihn, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Executive Director
Ms. Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was interviewed by the Seikyo Shimbun, a Japanese daily newspaper, as part of its monthly Culture of Peace informational series throughout 2019 to mark the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (UN General Assembly Resolution A/53/243) this …
Participated in the Annual Meeting of CCW
The 2019 Meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) was convened in Geneva on 13-15 November. It was decided that the CCW will discuss lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) on 22-26 June and 10-14 August 2020. These meetings will focus on the “development of aspects of the normative and operational framework” on LAWS. …
2019 UN General Assembly First Committee and Related Activities
The 74th session of the UN General Assembly First Committee took place from 7 October to 8 November. Hayley Ramsay-Jones and Anna Ikeda of SGI attended parts of the sessions in October and November. They actively supported the activities of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, both of which SGI is a …