Home > About Us > SGI's Efforts for the People's Decade
The SGI launched the "People’s Decade for Nuclear Abolition" initiative in 2007.
On January 26 and 27, the annual Peace Proposal by SGI President Ikeda was carried in the Seikyo Shimbun newspaper. The following is a translation of the portion carried on January 27 dealing with specific policy proposals in the fields of nuclear abolition and human security. more…
SGI recently launched a three-part series in The Japan Times, the leading English-language newspaper in Japan, in which hibakusha describe their experiences and opinions regarding current nuclear weapons issues.
SGI delegates attended the Parliament of the World’s Religions, which took place in December 2009 in Melbourne, Australia, bringing together over 8,000 representatives from a wide array of faiths to build bridges and address global issues.
In addition to holding the antinuclear exhibition "From a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace: Transforming the Human Spirit," SGI delegates attended panels on nuclear weapons issues. On December 6, during one panel, Judge Christopher Weeramantry, former judge of the International Court of Justice, stated that we have to put a stop to the danger posed by nuclear weapons and that the only way to do this is by generating public consciousness of this agenda. SGI Executive Director for Peace Affairs Hirotsugu Terasaki stressed that the time is right for increased efforts toward nuclear abolition in the run-up to the May 2010 NPT Review Conference.
During the other panel Buddhist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim representatives joined their voices, calling for moral leadership by the world’s religions in the effort to abolish nuclear weapons. Dr. Sue Wareham, former president of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia) and board member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), chaired the panel and stressed the vital role people of faith can play.
*You can listen to this news on the radio news program: http://www.gcast.com/u/TGRRadioEdition/
January 1, 2010 program (from 26:56)
From September 9-11, 2009, an SGI delegation attended the 62nd annual conference for NGOs associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) in Mexico City. On September 10, an opening reception for the SGI-organized exhibition "From a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace : Transforming the Human Spirit" was held at the Mexican Senate.
The reception was attended by the President of the Mexican Senate, Carlos Navarette Ruíz, Senator María Elena Orantes López, UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyo Akasaka, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Sergio Duarte, Charles Hitchcock, Chair of the 62nd Annual DPI/NGO Conference, as well as numerous representatives of the NGO and diplomatic communities. In his welcoming remarks, Senate President Navarette described the power of the images in the exhibition, such as photographs of children holding automatic weapons, to move people's hearts.
On the final day of the conference, SGI's representative to the UN in New York, Hiro Sakurai, was one of the speakers at a plenary roundtable. He related experiences of young people who had participated in activities in support of the SGI's People's Decade for Nuclear Abolition and how the dialogues engaged in with their peers had had a transformative impact on their consciousness. In the afternoon, SGI and Mayors for Peace jointly sponsored the workshop "International Decade for Disarmament."
On September 8, 2009, SGI President Daisaku Ikeda issued a proposal "Building Global Solidarity Toward Nuclear Abolition," highlighting five key steps toward the abolition of nuclear weapons. He stresses that we now have a unique opportunity to build grassroots solidarity, propel political processes and break out of the stagnation which has dogged nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation efforts. more…
On May 11, 2009, SGI held a symposium titled "Nuclear Abolition and Human Security: Shared Action to Meet a Common Threat" during the NPT PrepCom in New York. The speakers were: Kazuo Tase, chief of the Human Security Unit, UN Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs; Patricia Lewis, Deputy Director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies; and Kathleen Sullivan, Education Consultant to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs. The event, cosponsored by ICAN, explored how the perspectives of "human security"--a commitment to welfare of real people's lives as opposed to the often abstract imperatives of national interests--can be brought to bear in countering the threat of nuclear weapons.
An SGI delegation participated in the meetings held at the United Nations Headquarters preparatory to the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference on May in 2009.
On April 15, 2009, the seminar was held at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, moderated by Stein Tønnesson, Director of the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO). Sverre Lodgaard, Senior Research Fellow of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), emphasized the importance of serious debate on both the vision of the abolition of nuclear weapons and the means to realize it, stressing that it is essential for civil society to raise their voices and take action. This seminar was organized by the SGI, PRIO and NUPI and supported by No to Nuclear Weapons (NTA), Norwegian Physicians Against Nuclear Weapons (NLA) affiliated with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the Norwegian Pugwash Committee, the Norwegian Atlantic Committee (NAC) and the United Nations Association of Norway.
In 2005, the Soka Gakkai Women’s Peace Committee in Japan filmed 31 female war survivors from all over Japan talking about their experiences and compiled a DVD of eight of their accounts for educational purposes. From 2009 a multi-language version of this resource was made available.
"Creating a Culture of Peace" at the University of Hawaii, April 2007
(photo by Sophia Mendoza)
This exhibition presents issues on nuclear weapons through the lens of human security, while placing the work of nuclear abolition at the heart of building a culture of peace. It was launched in 2007 in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of declaration against nuclear weapons issued by second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda at the launch of the decade of action by world’s people for nuclear abolition.
The venues where the exhibit has been shown include the University of Hawaii, the University of Hong Kong, the New Zealand Parliament, the Cooper Union in New York City, the UN Office at Geneva during the preparatory session of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2008, the Oslo City Hall Gallery, and the Cibao Grand Theater, Santiago, Dominican Republic, as well as numerous venues in Malaysia and Taiwan.
On November 17, 2008, a symposium titled "Strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)" was held at Christiansborg Palace, which houses the Danish Parliament, in Copenhagen. SGI-Denmark and the Danish Committee of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (Pugwash Denmark) cosponsored the event together with several peace organizations. Some 150 peace scholars, activists and ambassadors to Denmark attended the event, including former IAEA Director General Hans Blix.
From February 8-10, 2008, SGI participated in a Workshop on the Eradication of Armed Conflict held at the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (ACPACS) at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, organized by Global Action to Prevent War (GAPW). An SGI representative chaired a session on the theme "From Conventional to Nuclear Weapons: Movement Forward on Nuclear Disarmament." The event was cosponsored by GAPW, ACPACS, the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) and the project for a United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS).
Civil Society Peace Forum titled "Abolishing Nuclear Weapons: What Can Each Of Us Do?" at the Cooper Union in New York City, September 2007
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda’s Declaration Calling for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, SGI, organized a Civil Society Peace Forum titled Abolishing Nuclear Weapons: What can each of us do? on September 8, 2007 at The Cooper Union, New York City, cosponsored by Global Action to Prevent War and the World Federation of United Nations Associations. A panel discussion was moderated by Kathleen Sullivan, a UN disarmament education consultant, and the panelists included experts from the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP), the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Global Security Institute, and the Peace Education Center of Columbia University Teachers College.
