Ahead of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima: The Citizens Summits

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.

The policy recommendations (C7 Communiqué) were prepared by six working groups - Nuclear Disarmament, Climate and Environmental Justice, Economic Justice and Transformation, Globall Health, Humanitarian Assistance and Conflict, and Open and Resilient Societies - and were handed to Prime Minister Kishida by a C7 delegation visiting the Prime Minister's Office on 12 April.

C7 Summit in Tokyo 

The C7 Summit was held in Tokyo from 13-14 April, the day after the C7 Policy Proposal was handed to Prime Minister Kishida.  As the co-coordinator of the Working Group on Nuclear Disarmament, Peace Boat was involved in the development of policy proposals related to nuclear weapons abolition, together with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), of which Peace Boat is an international steering group member. 

At the C7 Summit, Peace Boat was responsible for one of the breakout sessions entitled 'Dialogue for a nuclear weapons free world: where we stand and for the future'.  In this breakout session, after explaining the policy recommendations that had been prepared, Hibakusha, scientists and youth from the Pacific Islands affected by nuclear testing spoke about the reality of nuclear weapons from their own perspectives, and Japanese youth spoke about their political advocacy in Japan.

Susi Snyder of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) took the stage at a breakout session on the second day to discuss the relationship between nuclear weapons and the food crisis. Other topics discussed included how food security management and systems will change in the future in terms of international health and climate change, and the impact of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine on the food system.

For two days only, during the C7 Summit, a special programme entitled 'Traveling back to Hiroshima in 1945 – the Aftermath of the Atomic Bomb’ was broadcast on demand. The programme featured the Hiroshima Peace Times newspaper, which was created on the assumption that a newspaper would have been published on the day of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and the documentary film Hiroshima: Nagasaki, which was shot in 1945 and shows footage of the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.  The programme was produced with the cooperation of Peace Platform, Newspaper Workers' Union and Nichiei Video Corporation, and was broadcast for 48 hours only and played a total of 570 times.

Citizens' Summit for All 2023 held in Hiroshima

From 15 - 17 April, the Citizens' Summit 2023 was held in Hiroshima.  The theme of the summit was "Creating a sustainable society without nuclear weapons and leaving no one behind", and the aim was to promote understanding of the G7 Summit and social issues, citizen participation, action by NPOs and NGOs, cooperation with stakeholders, and proposals to the government.  On 15 April, a testimony session by an atomic bomb survivor was held as a pre-event.

On 16 April, the opening session featured an opening declaration, addresses by the Governor of Hiroshima Prefecture and the Mayor of Hiroshima, a musical performance by Hiroshima-based artist Hippy, and a report by Peace Boat's Sumiko Hatakeyama from the Nuclear Disarmament Working Group.

In the afternoon, Peace Boat organised a breakout session on 'SDGs from a Round-the-Earth Journey: A Honeybee Workshop'. 

In this breakout session, participants considered what they can do in the future related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), based on various issues in the regions they visit on their global voyage, and discussed ideas for activities ranging from what they can do in their daily lives to larger actions. The event was named the 'Honeybee Workshop' because participants were given the opportunity to interact with as many people as possible as they went from one group to another like bees going from flower to flower.  Participants who came from a variety of backgrounds were then divided into two groups to exchange opinions, using actual Peace Boat in port programmes in four countries - Iceland, Australia, Cambodia and Madagascar - as examples.

Participants commented: 'I have seen developing countries, but I was surprised to know that there are many social issues even in developed countries'; 'I found out for the first time that there is uranium mining in Australia. I wondered why it is not reported publicly." The workshop was an opportunity for participants to think about what they can do in their own communities.

How did you create the C7 'Nuclear Weapons Abolition' WG's policy proposal?

In addition to the breakout session organised by Peace Boat, Sumiko Hatakeyama and Susi Snyder, who worked as coordinators of the C7 Nuclear Disarmament Working Group, spoke as guest speakers at a breakout session organised by a local Hiroshima citizens' group.  There, they explained the process of creating the C7 policy recommendations and Susi Snyder spoke about ICAN's divestment from nuclear weapons companies.  Around 100 people attended the event, which was followed by an interview by the Sotoku High School newspaper club.

Everyday during the C7 Summit and Citizens' Summit 2023, Peace Boat organised a 30-minute livestreaming programme to introduce the day's events and highlights of the following day.  During the C7 Summit, the programme introduced various initiatives, including reports from the coordinators of each working group and voices from the secretariat who were running the C7 Summit, while during the Citizens' Summit for Everyone 2023, the programme delivered the voices of those in charge of each working group and those who had been invited from abroad.