Planning the End of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna: Nuclear Ban Week, June 2022

The first Meeting of States Parties to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which entered into force in 2021, will take place in Vienna, Austria from June 21-23, 2022.  In the days preceding, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) will hold a two-day Nuclear Ban Forum on June 18-19 bringing together social change innovators, educators, and nuclear weapons experts from across the globe. On June 20, the Government of Austria will convene the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, a one-day expert-level meeting to focus attention and deepen engagement on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. As an International Steering Group member of ICAN, Peace Boat will take an active role in these programmes, as well as a series of events in Japan and online throughout the week.

In Vienna

In Vienna, Peace Boat will join ICAN and other partners from around the world in coordinating a number of sessions at the Nuclear Ban Forum, supporting Hibakusha travelling from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and centring the voices of people from nuclear impacted communities, as well as youth working for nuclear abolition.

Some highlights which can be joined either in person or online include:

THIS is what nuclear weapons are
10:45 AM | Main Stage at the Jesuitensaal
Hosted by Kawasaki Akira with nuclear survivors from around the world.
https://vienna.icanw.org/this_is_what_nuclear_weapons_are

Denuclearisation in Northeast Asia
Saturday June 18 | 11:00 AM - 11:45 AM | Vienna Hub
With Ambassador Enkhsaikhan Jargalsaikan, Blue Banner; Sooyoung Hwang, People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) and Tadatoshi Akiba, Former Mayor of Hiroshima. Presented by Peace Boat and GPPAC Northeast Asia.
https://vienna.icanw.org/denuclearisation_in_northeast_asia

Live from South Australia, Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Sunday June 19 | 10:00 AM - 11:45 AM | Vienna Hub
With nuclear survivors speaking live from Port Augusta, South Australia, where the desert meets the sea, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki, featuring the kinds of suffering experienced by the atomic-bomb victims that have not previously been given enough attention.
https://vienna.icanw.org/live_from_south_australia_hiroshima_nagasaki

See the full programme and register to join either in person or online here:
https://vienna.icanw.org/forum
 

Nuclear Ban Week in Japan

As part of the Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Peace Boat is involved in coordinating more than one dozen connected events in Japan and online throughout the week, including some connecting with Vienna online. An overview of these events, including livestreaming links and more, is available here (Japanese language):
http://2022banweek.nuclearabolitionjpn.com/
 

Recommendations to the States Parties

Japanese citizens have sincerely welcomed the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which bans these inhumane weapons and provides for their total elimination. Among the treaty’s central pillars are Articles 6 and 7, which stipulate assistance for victims of the use and testing of nuclear weapons, as well as environmental remediation and international cooperation for these purposes. In partnership with many experts and members of civil society, Peace Boat has been working with sufferers to better understand and compensate for the harm caused by exposure to radiation, and to guarantee that sufferers’ rights are protected and their dignity restored. Based on their knowledge and experience, a Japanese civil society coalition is submitting recommendations to the Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW, which can be read online here.
https://peaceboat.org/english/news/TPNW1MSP-JP

Peace Boat will also be sharing the voices from the World Nuclear Survivors Forum held in December 2021 throughout the week in Vienna; please click here to view the Summary Document including recommendations by survivors.
https://nuclearsurvivors.org/download/WNSF_2021.pdf\

Follow Peace Boat on social media for updates from Vienna, including voices of nuclear impacted communities regarding the treaty. For further information please contact pbglobal(a)peaceboat.gr.jp (replacing (a) with @ mark).