In Remembrance of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
August 6th and August 9th are dates of infamy, they mark the first and only use of nuclear weapons against civilians. Hundreds of thousands citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan were killed in this atrocious crime against humanity. The bombings are a stark reminder of the vulnerability of our humanity and the critical importance of working toward a nuclear-free world.
As the world marks the 75th Anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in 2020, the world’s preeminent interfaith organizations are coming together through a multilateral accord and a special remembrance broadcast that aims to reverse the race toward mutually assured destruction.
The Hiroshima/Nagasaki Accord
The Parliament of the World’s Religions, the Charter for Compassion, Religions for Peace, and United Religions Initiative (URI) have come together in a decisive call for nuclear abolition in order to foster a just, peaceful and sustaible world.
We, the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Charter for Compassion, Religions for Peace and the United Religions Initiative have come together, for the first time to issue The Hiroshima/Nagasaki Accord which will be delivered on August 6, 2020, acknowledging the 75th Anniversary of the atomic bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now more than ever we feel urgency concerning the alarming actions of the nuclear nations. Walking away from safeguarding Treaties. Stepping back from verification. Modernizing nuclear weapons. Abandoning serious negotiations. And threatening to begin testing again. These trends constitute a calamitous threat to the entire world. So, we are speaking up together and looking for others to ally with us. It’s is up to each of us to take positive action that will reverse our race toward nuclear annihilation.
Read the Accord →
75th Commemorative Remembrance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
A special video program will be broadcasted by the Parliament of the World’s Religions, the Charter for Compassion, Religions for Peace, and United Religions Initiative on August 6th 8:00AM EDT as a special introduction to the Accord featuring nuclear experts from around the world and the participation of Audrey Kitagawa, Chair of the Parliament of the World’s Religions; Marilyn Turkovich, Executive Director of the Charter for Compassion; Dr. Azza Karam, Secretary General of Religions for Peace; Victor Kazanjian, Executive Director of URI; and Bishop William Swing, Founder/President of URI.
The video will feature former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, former US Secretary of State George Shultz, and others, including: Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima; Tomihisa Taue, Mayor of Nagasaki; former US Senator Sam Nunn; Mohamed Elbaradei, former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Noble Laureate; and Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization; Leona Morgan, Coordinator with the Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining; Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), and Kehkashan Basu, President and Founder of Green Hope Foundation.
Mikhail Gorbachev and George Shultz saw the possibility of bringing the world close to the total elimination of nuclear weapons at the 1986 Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. An award to young people pursuing nuclear disarmament is being established in perpetuity in their names as part of this broadcast. The program will be broadcasted on Facebook, YouTube and various partner websites on Thursday, August 6th; Saturday, August 8th; and Sunday, August 9th.
Register for the Broadcast→
The Parliament of the World’s Religions has been a resolute advocate for nuclear disarmament around the world. In 2018, the Parliament partnered with Jonathan Granoff of the Global Security Institute, with the supportive consultations of our esteemed Parliament presenters former Canadian Prime Minister Right Honorable Kim Campbell, General Romeo Dallaire, Senator Douglas Roche, then Parliament Chair-Elect Audrey Kitagawa, Bishop William Swing, and Kehkashan Basu, to publish the statement Responding to the Unique Challenge of Nuclear Weapons A Passionate Call From The Parliament of the World’s Religions. The statement makes a passionate plea to the leaders of all religions, all people of good will, and all leaders of nations both with and without nuclear weapons to commit to work to eliminate these horrific devices forever. It also support the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the duty explicitly stated in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to obtain a nuclear weapons-free world.
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