Renewing Nagasaki’s Citizen Diplomacy

ABSTRACT

For three quarters of a century, the hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki) have stood firm in their quest to save humanity from nuclear annihilation. Through their voice and action, the people of Nagasaki City have demonstrated the strength of citizen diplomacy. The voice of Nagasaki can be heard everywhere – strong in its call that Nagasaki must remain the last place to suffer an atomic bombing. Most significantly, the hibakusha’s compelling testimonies brought the world the historic Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in 2017. Despite this prohibition, the goal of a nuclear free world seems more elusive than ever, and the nuclear sceptre looms large. Today, the world faces a heightened risk of nuclear weapons use amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. What should we do in this time of danger and opportunity? In commemoration of the 10th anniversary of its founding, the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Nagasaki University and the Nagasaki Council for Nuclear Weapons Abolition organised a special public lecture on 29th October 2022, to examine current challenges in the path toward a nuclear weapons-free world and to re-evaluate the roles that the A-Bombed city should play in advancing this goal. This article, adapted from the public lecture, reaffirms the vital role that Nagasaki must continue to play through a renewal of its citizen diplomacy. It highlights lessons from the TPNW negotiations and the opportunities that its adoption has created for Nagasaki to strengthen and expand its citizen diplomacy.

KEYWORDS:

• Nagasaki
• hibakusha
• citizen diplomacy
• TPNW
• nuclear weapons
• atomic bombing

Acknowledgments

I congratulate the organisers of the special lecture – RECNA and the PUC-NC on the celebration of their tenth anniversary, and for organising such a timely and important public lecture. I must applaud these two institutions for their tireless work over the past ten years to open a new path towards nuclear weapons abolition.

I also salute Nagasaki Governor Kengo Oishi, Nagasaki City’s Mayor Tomihisa Taue, and University of Nagasaki’s President Dr. Shigeru Kono for their bold and visionary leadership of Nagasaki’s noble mission to achieve a nuclear weapon free world. I must, in particular, commend Mayor Taue for his long-standing advocacy, carrying the message from Nagasaki across the globe.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The author, in an article that reflects on the impact of the United Nations Programme of Fellowship on Disarmament on her career, highlights the role of the study visits to Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 2005. See Richards (2021).

² CARICOM comprises the following 15 member states: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat (a British overseas territory in the Leeward Islands), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Montserrat however is an internally self-governing British Overseas Territory and therefore not recognized as an independent state by the United Nations.

³ For the role played by CARICOM Small Island Developing States, see Richards (2022).

⁴ Reaching Critical Will of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom has undertaken work on gender perspective on how war and weapons are coded with gender norms and stereotypes. See Reaching Critical Will (n.d.).