The Civil 7 (C7) Summit takes place in Tokyo ahead of the G7

Ahead of the G7 taking place in Hiroshima next month, civil society organizations in Japan are organizing the C7 summit in Tokyo and online.The Civil Society 7 (C7) Group is one of the official Engagement Groups of the G7 and represents positions from the international civil society. It provides a platform through which representatives from non-governmental organisations worldwide can network in order to develop policy recommendations and enter into a dialogue with the G7.   

Peace Boat is proud to be be coordinator of the Nuclear Disarmament Working Group for the C7 and is organizing two sessions during the summit.  Session 4 of the summit is a panel discussion which is available online and in person. An on demand event will looking back to Hiroshima in 1945.

Dialogue for a nuclear weapons free world: where we stand and for the future

Thursday 13 April 2023, 10:00-12:00 JST,

Description: In preparation for the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida wants to specifically address nuclear weapons, and the increased nuclear threat. More than 125 organizations from around the world developed an agreed set of recommendations for the G7 leaders to reduce nuclear threats, and progress towards nuclear disarmament. This session will present those recommendations and provide analysis and insights on the current nuclear threats and global efforts to disarm nuclear weapons.

Moderator:
HATAKEYAMA Sumiko (NDWG Domestic Coordinator/Peace Boat)

Panelists:

• Susi SNYDER (NDWG International Coordinator/ICAN)
• TANAKA Terumi (Hibakusha/Hidankyo)
• Gregory KULACKI (Union of Concerned Scientists)
• Rosenet TIMIUS (MISA)
• TAKAHASHI Yuta (Know Nukes Tokyo)

Biographical notes:

HATAKEYAMA Sumiko (NDWG Domestic Coordinator/Peace Boat)

Sumiko is an Executive Committee member of Peace Boat, a Japan-based international NGO. At Peace Boat, she coordinates various projects related to nuclear disarmament and education. Her recent publications include Navigating Disarmament Education: The Peace Boat Model, which was published in 2020 from UNODA. She has a BA (Hons) in Politics, Psychology and Sociology (PPS) from University of Cambridge and PhD in History and Sociology of Science from University of Pennsylvania, and is currently also a lecturer at Waseda University in Tokyo.

Gregory KULACKI, Senior Analyst, Union of Concerned Scientists

Gregory Kulacki is a Senior Analyst and the China Project Manager for the Global Security Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Research Center for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (RECNA) at Nagasaki University. Dr. Kulacki works on improving cross-cultural communication between the United States of America, China and Japan on nuclear weapons and related security issues. Prior to joining UCS in 2002, Dr. Kulacki was the Director of External Studies at Pitzer College, an Associate Professor of Government at Green Mountain College and the China Director for the Council on International Educational Exchange. Gregory completed his PhD in government and politics at the University of Maryland College Park. He has spent most of his professional life living and working in China, and currently resides in Japan.

Susi SNYDER, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

Susi is the programme coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Her responsibilities include facilitating the development and execution of ICAN’s key programmes, including the management of ICAN’s divestment work and engagement with the financial sector. Susi has contributed to a number of recent books, including Forbidden (2023), A World Free from Nuclear Weapons (2020), Sleepwalking to Armageddon: The Threat of Nuclear Annihilation (2017) and War and Environment Reader (2018). She has been featured in Project Syndicate, CNBC, 360 Magazine, Quartz, the Intercept, Huffington Post, U.S. News and World Report, the Guardian, on Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera, and Democracy Now (among others).

Rosenet TIMIUS, MISA 4 the Pacific

Rosenet Timius is from the Marshall Islands, specifically Bikini Atoll and Kili and Ejit Islands. She is currently an undergraduate at the University of Hawaii majoring in Political Science and a minor in Pre-law. Before Rosenet moved to Hawaii, she was involved with Jo-Jikum, a non-profit organization focused on empowering Marshallese youth to rise up to the issues of climate change and nuclear legacy, which are affecting their tiny islands, vast ocean, and humble people. Rosenet hopes to raise awareness about the Marshallese nuclear legacy, specifically its connection to health, education and climate change in the Marshall Islands.

TANAKA Terumi, Hidankyo

Terumi TANAKA was born on April 29, 1932. At age 13, he experienced the Nagasaki A-bomb inside his house located at 3.2 kilometers from the blast center. He lost five of his family members all at once. He cremated the body of his aunt in the field, who survived only a few days after the bombing with heavy burns. He graduated from the Science University of Tokyo in 1960. He is a physicist in magnetochemistry and former Assistant Professor of Tohoku University. Since 1974, he has contributed to the Hibakusha movement for the abolition of nuclear weapons and for state compensation for the damage caused by the bombings. Since he participated in the first SSOD held in the UN in 1978, Tanaka has joined meetings in the UN including the NPT review conference and visited various countries to tell the truth what the atomic bombing caused. After working as Secretary General of the Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) for 20 years, he became Co-chairperson of Hidankyo in 2017.

TAKAHASHI Yuta, KNOW NUKES TOKYO

Yuta Takahashi is a co-founder of KNOW NUKES TOKYO (KNT). With his passion for Japan’s nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation policy, he promotes dialogue between policymakers and citizens through various meetings and events. KNT is also a partner organization of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Yuta was born in Hiroshima, Japan, in 2000. As he grew up in Hiroshima, he encountered many Hibakusha, atomic bomb survivors, which motivated him to promote the global awareness of the humanitarian impact of any use of nuclear weapons. His team has held online Hibakusha testimony sessions since 2020.


 

Traveling back to Hiroshima in 1945 – the Aftermath of the Atomic Bomb

Date & Time: April 13 – 14

Modality: On-Demand

Overview:
In this program, a navigator will introduce two pieces of valuable documents. A newspaper issued on the assumption that they are reporting from Hiroshima on the day the A-bomb was dropped, and a documentary film which had been shot in 1945, showing the aftermath of the Atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The completed film has long been confiscated by the US, but it came back to Japan in a viewable version after 65 years of making. Both of the documents are very valuable, and we got the permission to introduce them to the global community with a tremendous support of the nuclear disarmament activists. Don’t miss this special occasion, as the program will only be available for 48 hours, during the C7 Summit period.

Hosted by: Nuclear Disarmament Working Group

Supported by: Peace Platform

Newspaper provided by: Japan Federation of Newspaper Workers’ Unions

Film provided by: Nichiei Eizo Ltd.