April 29, 2014 // UN Headquarters CR-B (CB) // 1:15 – 2:30 pm
RSVP: Emilie McGlone, Peace Boat emilie@peaceboat-us.org

Nearly 70 years ago, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by atomic weapons at the end of the Second World War. Since then, the nuclear threat continues to spread. In late April 2014, the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee at the United Nations Headquarters will bring people to New York City from all over the world. NPT member states have been meeting for over 45 years, and still the nuclear threat continues.  The nuclear status quo may be crumbling under the weight of new efforts from both civil society and UN member states to Ban the Bomb. At a recent international conference in Mexico over 100 member states agreed that nuclear weapons should be abolished. El Salvador was one of the nations that made this call.

As a joint initiative between the Permanent Mission of el Salvador to the United Nations, and the international NGO Peace Boat, we have the honor to invite you this coming 29 April at 1:15pm, to join an international group of politicians, ambassadors, activists and educators to discuss the humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons and what we can do to abolish them.

International NGO Peace Boat and local nonprofit Youth Arts New York’s Hibakusha Stories initiative both focus on bringing the testimonies of atomic bomb survivors to people, in order for them to understand the reality of nuclear war.  Mayor Tomohisa Taue, the mayor of Nagasaki will also be on hand to speak about the city he loves that rose from the ashes of August 1945. Nagasaki University students will reflect on their future together with Hiroshima survivor Reiko Yamada and Nagasaki survivor Michio Hakariya who will give their testimony. The eldest grandson of President Harry Truman, the US president who made the decision to use atomic weapons in war, Clifton Truman Daniel will also offer his reflections.

Distinguished Speakers:

Ambassador Carlos Enrique García González, Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the UN

Clifton Truman Daniel, the eldest grandson of 33rd US President Harry S. Truman 

Mr. Akira Kawasaki, Director of Peace Boat’s Hibakusha Project

Dr. Kathleen Sullivan, Director of Hibakusha Stories

Reiko Yamada, Atomic bomb survivor from Hiroshima

Michio Hakariya, Atomic bomb survivor from Nagasaki

Mr. Tomohisa Taue, Nagasaki Mayor and Vice President of Mayors for Peace

The organizers believe it is imperative to share the survivor’s brave legacy of calling for a world free of nuclear weapons, and in accordance with the vision of the United Nations to continue working towards global nuclear disarmament, we support the efforts of the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs to meet their goals of increasing disarmament education and promoting a nuclear free world.

RSVP: Emilie McGlone, Peace Boat emilie@peaceboat-us.org

Co-sponsored by: 
The Permanent Mission of El Salvador, Peace Boat, Peace Boat US, and Hibakusha Stories