Dear Friend --

I am writing from Hiroshima, where the G7 Summit begins tomorrow. ICAN and our partners are here to engage with media covering this event and make sure the leaders feel the global pressure to include real action to end nuclear weapons in their outcome. Will you raise your voice? 

With the meeting deliberately chosen by Japan to take place in the first city wiped out by nuclear weapons and the risk of nuclear weapons use at an all-time high, nuclear weapons are rightly high on the agenda. These seven states either possess (USA, France, UK), host (Germany, Italy) or include nuclear weapons in their national security policy (Canada, Japan). So they must not be allowed to get away with paying mere lip-service to a world without nuclear weapons.  

Over the past weeks, the hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have renewed their calls for the total elimination of nuclear weapons and shared their stories in the hope that their experiences will move these seven leaders to act. They have also expressed their concerns that they will be let down again. 

If the G7 are serious about ending the nuclear threat they must commit to concrete measures towards nuclear disarmament:

1. Unequivocally condemn any and all threats to use nuclear weapons.

2. Meet and listen to the hibakusha and formally recognise the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of using nuclear weapons

3. Agree to end the stationing of nuclear weapons in other countries

4. Provide a plan for negotiating nuclear disarmament with all nuclear weapons states and joining the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  

We have presented these demands in bilateral meetings with G7 diplomats, and engaged partners, media and parliamentarians to amplify the message. But in the coming days, we must ramp up the pressure, together.

The participants from the G7 Youth Summit have put together a fantastic toolkit you can use to take action, and they are calling for a day of action on Saturday May 20th. Will you join? 

Thank you for all you do for a world free of nuclear weapons.

Sincerely,

Daniel Högsta
Interim Executive Director
ICAN

PS. If you want to stay up to date on what is happening in Hiroshima in the coming days don’t forget to follow ICAN on social media. We're on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn.

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