Muhadi Sugiono Attending the International Forum of Civil Society

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The network of Japanese NGOs, Japan Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, organized an international forum to abolish nuclear weapons with participants coming from Japan and abroad. Two representatives of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates of 2017 and 2024, ICAN and Nihon Hidankyo, were among the participants and contributors in the forum. As a speaker, I participated in the forum discussing and promoting nuclear disarmament in East Asia. Another important agenda of the forum was a meeting with Japanese parliamentary members from different parties to discuss Japanese participation in the 3rd Meeting of the State Parties in New York in March 2025. After the end of the forum, I travelled to Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the invitation of the two cities’ NGOs. In the two cities, I visited the atomic bomb museums and peace memorial parks, met with cities’ mayors, gave talks as well as had dialogues with the hibakushas (the atomic bomb survivors) and the organizations engaged in the abolition of nuclear weapons. It was a privilege for me to have the opportunity to talk to and learn from the hibakushas and their organization, especially Nihon Hidankyo, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2024 (Pict 6). They are the most authoritative to speak against nuclear weapons and contribute a lot to the demand for a world without nuclear weapons.