Preamble

We, the 57 participants of the 7th Hiroshima Junior International Forum, held during August 16th and 20th 2022, gathered online from 12 countries to learn about and discuss the abolition of nuclear weapons and peacebuilding.

We, the younger generation, understand that billions of people around the world are frightened by the risk of nuclear weapons being used in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We also understand that not only in Ukraine but also around the world, there are millions of people whose lives and safety are threatened by armed conflicts. The issues of abolition of nuclear weapons and peacebuilding are just as important as ever.

We have a responsibility to free people from the threat of nuclear weapons and to restore dignity to people in conflict zones. In order to take action on nuclear abolition and peacebuilding, we, the youth of today, need to acquire expertise and build a network of like-minded peers. With the strong will of the people of Hiroshima, at this forum we had a chance to listen to the testimony of hibakusha and lecture of experts as well as discussing the challenges and solutions for abolition of nuclear weapons and peacebuilding.

The Hiroshima Declaration is the final output of all that we have learned and discussed over these 5 days. The Hiroshima Declaration is an action plan for ourselves and a proposal for like-minded people around the world.

 

<Challenges and Solutions for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons>

✧ Toward nuclear weapons abolition, we recognize that Japan and nuclear weapon states should sign “The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons”.

✧ Toward nuclear weapons, we have to share more necessary information to people who don’t have enough knowledge through projects like this.

✧ For this challenge, we suggest achieving “positive peace”, not only “negative peace.”

✧ In order to solve this issue, we advise the government to teach people the correct facts and other information about nuclear weapons.

✧ For this challenge, we recommend alerting people around the world to the danger of nuclear weapons, by using movies and brochures.

 

<Our Role for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons>

✧ We, the young people, commit to share what we learn with our friends, family and people around us.

✧ We, also, commit to learn about and develop a lot of methods to lead to the abolition of nuclear weapons.

✧ Furthermore, we commit to talk about this issue with various people around the world.

✧ We, the young people, commit to make the people be aware of the importance of nuclear abolition, we should make effective use of the Internet.

✧ We, the young people, commit to hand down the experiences of war survivors.

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<The Role of Hiroshima for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons>

✧ We suggest that Hiroshima can encourage the youth of today to be aware of the potential danger of nuclear weapons.

✧ We believe that Hiroshima can make the young generation feel more sympathetic towards the victims of the nuclear weapons.

✧ We recommend that Hiroshima should teach young people the importance of building a peaceful world without nuclear weapons.

✧ We hope the people of Hiroshima could tell the story of 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation ‘Hibakusha’ and the illnesses and sicknesses that still occur to all the people over the world and learn and understand that it must never happen again.

✧ We expect that Hiroshima should give full support to the young student leaders to spread the idea of the forum in their own way all around the world.

 

<Challenges and Solutions for Peacebuilding>

✧ Towards peacebuilding, we recognize that people lack the idea that realizing peace is every human being’s duty.

✧ For this challenge, we suggest building a well-educated system which is not only about academic studying but also manners and holding a mind open to equality.

✧ We youth are required to fight against racism and multiple kinds of discrimination in order to achieve sustainable global peace, for instance, by boycotting products from companies which are racist .

✧ We should lead local global peacebuilding efforts in our own countries and areas to show that it is the key to ending violent conflicts sustainably by this challenge.

✧ We, the young leaders, should promote the people not to neglect the responsibilities of building a peaceful world which means avoiding global issues like poverty and hunger from happening.

✧ For this challenge, people should provide every youth all over the world to stop the problems like racism and discrimination which are the start level of destroying the worldwide sustainable peace.

<Our Role for Peacebuilding>

✧ We, the young people, commit to learn and spread about hunger, poverty and conflict through SNS.

✧ We commit to make events where everyone can interact with people from overseas, and talk about their cultures. This might make people understand the cultural differences.

✧ We, the youth, commit to donate money or clothes that are no longer used to people in need.

✧ We, the teenagers, commit to talk with many people in order to deepen our thoughts on peace.

✧ We, the young generation, commit to interact with students who live in distant areas in our own countries, not only people from overseas.

 

<The Role of Hiroshima for Peacebuilding>

✧ We suggest that Hiroshima can hold an event about peace building and show the difficulties during the period after the atomic bomb was dropped period and how to protect in advance.

✧ We consider that Hiroshima can assist in local based citizen movements about peace building.

✧ We believe that Hiroshima can tell people in the world the importance of peace.

✧ We sincerely hope that Hiroshima should be not satisfied with the current situation, and promote more about building peace by connecting with countries around the world to make a bright future.

✧ We expect Hiroshima to interweave peace with modern pop culture and entertainment, and also invent modern ways to show global audiences as online meeting as real zones are exhibited due to COVID-19

Closing

All the participants have come together and made the Hiroshima Declaration. But we cannot stop ourselves here. We pledge to put the action plan into practice. We are also determined to keep learning and expand the network of like-minded people through dialogue. When we interact with people, we promise to be sensitive to diversity and respectful of each other, as we have been in our dialogue with the participants of this forum.

We understand that the world faces many challenges and difficulties each of which requires concrete and concerted action. With the support of the people of Hiroshima and the friends we have made at this forum, we are standing at the starting line full of enthusiasm. We are keenly aware of our power and responsibility, and hereby declare our determination to live up to the Hiroshima Declaration.

 

August 20, 2022