Youth Summit on the Renunciation of War
Japan
2021
Junior high school students in Itoman City view replicas of paintings by survivors of the Battle of Okinawa. An initiative of Soka Gakkai youth in Okinawa, the paintings that depict experiences of the battle have been displayed at 16 schools this year. [© Seikyo Shimbun]
On August 8 and 9, 180 Soka Gakkai youth from Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Okinawa and other regions joined an online Youth Summit on the Renunciation of War. Following a hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) testimony by a father and daughter and presentations on Soka Gakkai peace activities in different regions, a video message from Daniel Högsta, campaign coordinator of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), was shown. Hayley Ramsay-Jones, director of the Geneva Liaison Office of the SGI Office of UN Affairs, joined the meeting and spoke about SGI (Soka Gakkai International)’s work with ICAN to promote the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). President Daisaku Ikeda sent a congratulatory message to the event.