◆◇ 平和宣言（英訳） ◇◆

Nagasaki Peace Declaration

On August 9th, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on this city. Now, 80 years since that day, who could have possibly imagined that our world would become like this?
Immediately cease from disputes in which “force is met with force.” Conflicts around the world are intensifying in a vicious cycle of confrontation and fragmentation.
If we continue on this trajectory, we will end up thrusting ourselves into a nuclear war. This existential crisis of humanity has become imminent to each and every one of us living on Earth.

Speaking as the first hibakusha to address the United Nations General Assembly in 1982, the late Yamaguchi Senji described the horrific scene of the bombing as follows: “I saw people all around me with extruding eyeballs, men and women showered with penetrating splinters of glass and wood, and a weeping young mother frantically holding on to her half-decapitated baby. To my left and to my right dead bodies lay fallen to the ground like stones.”

At the end of his address, Mr. Yamaguchi showed a photograph of his injuries and appealed forcefully to the world: “Take a close look at my face and arms. We must never allow even a single person among the people of the world and the children to be born in the future to go through the death and suffering caused by nuclear weapons that the hibakusha have suffered.”
“No more Hiroshimas. No more Nagasakis.
No more war. No more hibakusha.”
This cry from deep within his heart is the crystallization of the hibakusha’s feelings.

The unshakeable conviction of the hibakusha, who have moved the world with the power of their testimony as well as their actions, has drawn praise, and last year Nihon Hidankyo (the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Nihon Hidankyo was established in 1956, while the hibakusha struggled and suffered with deep mental and physical scars, as well as prejudice and poverty. Nihon Hidankyo was launched in Nagasaki, with a proclamation declaring their “will to save humanity from its crisis through the lessons learned from our experiences, while at the same time saving ourselves.”
“Humanity can rid itself of nuclear weapons.” With this strong hope, the hibakusha continued to raise their voices, inspiring the empathy of a great number of citizens and eventually leading to the idea of the “global citizen” to become deeply rooted in Nagasaki. This phrase expresses the desire to build a peaceful future together, beyond the barriers of race or national borders as citizens of one big “city” called “Earth.”
Is it not this “global citizen” perspective that will serve as the driving force behind stitching back together our fragmented world?

To the people of the world, all of whom are global citizens.
Though the power of one person alone may be weak, if we join together it will lead to a great force to open a path to the future. The hibakusha have shown this through their actions.
The first step is to know the other person. We must repeatedly conduct dialogue and exchanges, understand each other, and little by little build up trust. This is our major role as civil society.
Through what could be described as the universal languages of sports and the arts, as well as through the use of modern communication tools, the opportunities for us to interact on a global scale are ever widening.

The General Conference of Mayors for Peace, the meeting of an organization composed of about 8,500 cities across the world, is currently taking place here in Nagasaki. The municipalities, who are the form of government closest to their citizens, are also deepening their bonds and expanding their circle of collaboration.
As global citizens, let us build up empathy and trust, and turn it into the power to create peace.

To the leaders of all the world’s nations, who are also all global citizens.
This milestone year is also the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, which was established under the resolution to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” Now I ask you to go back to the keystone values of the Charter of the United Nations, and restore multilateralism and the rule of law.
Next year’s Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will represent a crucial moment capable of swaying the fate of humanity. In order to make Nagasaki the last atomic bombing site, it is essential to show a specific course of action for achieving the abolition of nuclear weapons. Procrastination can no longer be tolerated.

I hereby appeal to the government of Japan, the only nation to have suffered wartime atomic bombings.
Firmly uphold the Three Non-Nuclear Principles and the ethos of peace embodied in the Constitution by signing and ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the earliest possible juncture. To this end, exercise your leadership and change course towards a security policy that does not rely on nuclear deterrence, through establishing the Northeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, or other means.
There is not a great deal of time left for the hibakusha, whose average age is now over 86. I strongly request the further enhancement of aid given to the hibakusha, and that relief measures are adopted as soon as possible for those who were exposed to the atomic bombings but have not yet been officially recognized as hibakusha.

I would like to express my deepest condolences for the lives claimed by the atomic bombings, and to all of the victims of war.
In marking 80 years from the atomic bombing, Nagasaki has resolved to continue our duty to relay, both inside Japan and overseas, the memories of the bombing, which are a common heritage to all humanity and should be passed down for generations throughout the world. I hereby declare that in order to make Nagasaki the last atomic bombing site now and forever, we will go hand-in-hand with global citizens and devote our utmost efforts towards the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realization of everlasting world peace.

SUZUKI Shiro
Mayor of Nagasaki
August 9, 2025