The threat posed by nuclear weapons has not faded, according to youth leaders who have attended a global conference in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the site of devastating atomic bomb attacks 79 years ago.
Simon Liu is featured in a group photo with Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum director Takuji Inoue and hibakusha Seiichiro Mise There are around 12,500 nuclear weapons in the world – and with 56 active conflicts in the world, scientists say the threat and risk of activation is at the highest level it’s ever been. Youth leaders say they hope to accelerate progress towards a world without nuclear weapons.
From 2,000 applicants, 100 were selected to undergo online self-study - before culminating in a week-long visit in Japan, at the very sites of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.He says despite the preparation, he was still amazed at what he learned connecting with the hibakushas. "I think the fundamental reality is that these are the worst weapons of mass destruction. These are designed to - and can only incinerate cities, incinerate millions of innocent civilians; cause chaos catastrophic environmental destruction. And what we now know is that the climate impacts of nuclear weapons would have the biggest toll.
"We have successfully eliminated well over 80 per cent of the nuclear weapons that have ever been built. So we know how to do this. There are only nine states involved. They need to realise that nuclear weapons jeopardise their people as much as anybody's elses. They are not instruments of security. They are instruments of global insecurity."
The program - funded by the UN and Japan's government - is set to run until 2030 with new rounds of participants.
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