With the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to be presented to the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) on 10 December,* the socially engaged Japanese Nichiren Buddhist organization the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) has announced that it will co-sponsor the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, which will be held in Oslo on 11 December.
“Titled ‘Nukes: How to Counter the Threat,’ the public forum will feature 13 expert speakers, including two hibakusha [atomic bomb survivors]—Dr. Masao Tomonaga, director emeritus of the Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital, and Keiko Ogura, founder of Hiroshima Interpreters for Peace—as well as three Nobel Peace Prize laureates,” the SGI said in a statement dated 5 December and shared with BDG.
The convocation, to be held at the University of Oslo, is organized by the Norwegian Nobel Institute, and co-sponsored by the University of Oslo, the City of Oslo, the SGI, and the International Forum for Understanding.
The SGI will also organize a Youth Dialogue with hibakusha at the University of Oslo, involving Dr. Tomonaga and Ogura, local high school and university students, and SGI youth members.
“The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo inspires us all to work harder for nuclear weapons abolition,” the Soka Gakkai’s president, Minoru Harada, observed. “We hope this forum will see deep dialogue that appeals to the hearts and consciousness of citizens around the world, especially youth.”
Seventy-nine years have passed since the United States detonated atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to be presented to Nihon Hidankyo underscores the indelible impact of those attacks and both the possibilities and obstacles on the path to global peace.
“Nukes: How to Counter the Threat” will be attended by 500 people in person, including renowned scholars and peace activists, alongside International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Rafael Mariano Grossi; International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) executive director Melissa Parke; and Pugwash Conferences for Science and World Affairs secretary-general-elect Karen Astrid Hallberg. The SGI will cohost the live-stream of the event.
“The afternoon will see a high-level panel titled ‘Avoiding Nuclear War: The Case for No First Use,’ co-organized by the University of Oslo, Peacebook and the SGI, in association with the Norwegian Nobel Institute,” the SGI noted. “Aimed at risk-reduction and confidence-building, the workshop will bring some of the same speakers together with other experts for in-depth discussion under the Chatham House Rule.”
Founded in 1930, the Soka Gakkai (the Value Creation Society) is a Japanese Buddhist movement based on the teachings of the 13th century Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–82). Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra, believed to contain the teachings of the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, toward the end of his life, as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment. Soka Gakkai centers its teachings on the Lotus Sutra, with recitation of the mantra “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” (“Glory to the Dharma of the Lotus Sutra”) as its main devotional practice.
The Soka Gakkai International, founded by Daisaku Ikeda (1928–2023) in 1975, is an NGO with consultative status to UN ECOSOC. As a global community-based Buddhist organization that promotes peace, culture, and education based on respect for the dignity of life, the Soka Gakkai is involved in peace activism, education, and politics, with members in 192 countries and territories around the world.
Some of the Soka Gakkai’s high-profile members include actor Orlando Bloom, jazz musician Herbie Hancock, and singer Tina Turner.
It is vital that humankind develop a shared consciousness that nuclear weapons are an absolute evil whose existence can never be justified―for any reason or under any circumstance. We must promote the understanding that it is impossible to construct one’s own happiness and security on the fear and suffering of others; and this understanding must be coupled with the compassion, empathy and courage to resist all attempts to do so. — Daisaku Ikeda
See more
Soka Gakkai International
Press Release | Soka Gakkai International to Support Nobel Peace Prize Forum and Youth Dialogue with Hibakusha in Oslo (Soka Gakkai International)
Nobel Peace Prize Forum 2024: NUKES – How to counter the threat. (YouTube)
Increased risk of nuclear weapons usage (University of Oslo)
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