Celebrating the awarding of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize to ICAN (the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) on December 10, the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist association urges further efforts to realize the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons embodied in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), adopted at the UN in July this year.

In a statement, Mr. Hirotsugu Terasaki, SGI Director General of Peace and Global Issues, warmly congratulates ICAN on this historic moment and stresses SGI’s determination that the Treaty will serve as a crucial focus for the ongoing campaign for the abolition of these most inhumane of weapons, thereby helping humanity overcome its self-destructive tendencies.

Terasaki will participate in the ceremony in Oslo, in recognition of SGI’s role as an international partner organization of ICAN.

He states: “What we face, ultimately, is not a confrontation between the states that possess nuclear weapons and those that do not. Rather, it is the confrontation between the threat posed by nuclear weapons and humanity’s right to life. Nuclear weapons are dangerous from a security perspective. From an ethical and moral perspective, they are wrong. This renders them unacceptable in any hands. Today, with the geopolitical risks of nuclear conflict at almost unprecedented levels, it is vital that this awareness be shared widely by all people.”

The SGI statement addresses the issue of the different reactions the Treaty has elicited: “There are those who suggest that the adoption of the TPNW has deepened division between the nuclear-weapon states and non-nuclear-weapon states. We believe, rather, that it provides an opportunity to identify perspectives that will enable multiple public constituencies to engage in the debate on nuclear weapons abolition. We can see the early signs of such an effort.”

To this end, Terasaki calls for constructive dialogue and debate involving all parties while strengthening effective linkages with the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) regime—the cornerstone of international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation efforts.

“The desire to protect the people and things we love is a core human sentiment. Based on this universal human desire to protect what we treasure, we need to find new paths to coexistence. To do this, we must set out a new vision of security —one that brings together viewpoints in apparent opposition and is easily understood, robust and appealing.”

Read the full statement at: http://www.sgi.org/resources/ngo-resources/peace-disarmament/sgi-congratulates-ican-nobel-peace-prize.html

Soka Gakai International (SGI) is a community-based Buddhist association with 12 million members around the world. Its activities to promote peace and disarmament are part of the longstanding tradition of Buddhist humanism.

SGI has been an international partner of ICAN since 2007, cooperating on production of several educational resources, including the exhibition “Everything You Treasure—For a World Free From Nuclear Weapons,” videos of women hibakushas’ testimonies, and the animation Reshape History as a tool to promote and raise awareness of the TPNW.