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Joint Commitment

Core Commitment

• What led your organization to make the commitment?

  There are more than 15,000 nuclear weapons in the world today. Studies find that even one detonation of such a weapon, by accident or design, will bring about inhumane consequences, including physical harm caused by heat, blast and radiation, climate disruption, and loss of food production. Despite this vastness of the potential damage, nuclear weapons are not prohibited under international law. SGI believes that a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons would be a significant step toward their complete abolition, creating a legal norm stigmatizing nuclear weapons.

• Achievements at a glance

  SGI has supported the “humanitarian initiative” and called for a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons. As a Buddhist organization, SGI helped form a group called “Faith Communities Concerned about the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons” together with various other faith traditions, and the group has issued joint statements at UN conferences, such as the Open-ended Working Group taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations and the 71st session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee.
  SGI also promoted grassroots education to raise awareness of the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and to encourage people to take action. As an example, since 2013, the exhibition “Everything You Treasure—For a World Free From Nuclear Weapons,” created by the SGI with the support of ICAN, has been showcased in many venues worldwide. The exhibition was created with the aim of reexamining the issue of nuclear weapons from 12 different perspectives, including humanitarian, environmental, economic, human rights, spiritual and gender. As of December 2016, the exhibition has been shown in 71 cities in 18 countries in 9 languages (English, Japanese, Spanish, Malay, Chinese, German, Korean, French and Thai).
  In December 2016, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution to convene a conference in 2017 to negotiate “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.”

• How is your organization assessing progress

  We believe that the December 2016 UNGA resolution mandating a conference in 2017 to negotiate a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons is a great sign of progress. Since the humanitarian initiative was initiated in 2010 (https://www.icanw.org/campaign/humanitarian-initiative/), thanks to the efforts of the civil society and core group of states, it has gained a much-needed momentum to move forward the stalled nuclear disarmament discussions. For this reason, SGI has worked with other NGOs and faith groups to voice our support for the initiative.

• Challenges faced in implementation

  Nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-dependent states have been expressing their opposition and skepticism, trying to undermine the effort toward negotiating a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons. Furthermore, the recent tensions in East Asia may bolster public opinion in support of nuclear deterrence. As an organization dedicated to promoting non-formal education, SGI believes that our main challenge is to help shift the narrative about nuclear weapons – from necessary evil or being part of security, to inhumane weapons of mass destruction.

• Next step to advance implementation in 2017

  SGI will support the upcoming negotiations in 2017 as a member of civil society to ensure that the treaty will consist of a strong text. We will continue to encourage all States to participate actively in the negotiating process while also continuing our efforts to raise public awareness about this historic negotiation process.

• Cross cutting issues

  ☑Religious engagement ☑ Humanitarian principles

• Specific initiatives

  ☑Charter for Faith-based Humanitarian Action

• Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

  ☑2A - Respect and protect civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of hostilities