SGI's Efforts

Faiths Join to Stress Vital Challenge of Nuclear Abolition at Melbourne Parliament of World's Religions | December 2009
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.

UN NGO Conference in Mexico City | September 9-11, 2009
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 Ruiz, Senator Maria Elena Orantes Lopez, 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."

Proposal by SGI President Outlines Five-point Plan Toward Nuclear Abolition | September 8, 2009
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...

Symposium held during NPT PrepCom, New York | May 11, 2009
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.

NPT review conference | May 2009
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.

Seminar entitled "Nordic Initiatives for Nuclear Abolition" | April 15, 2009
On April 15, 2009, the seminar was held at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, moderated by Stein Tonnesson, 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.