‘Nuclear-Free World: Cries from Hiroshima and Nagasaki’ Exhibit Opens at Headquarters

The “Nuclear-Free World:  Cries from Hiroshima and Nagasaki" exhibition will be launched with a special ceremony on Monday, 27 April, at 6 p.m. in the Visitors’ Lobby.  The exhibit is mounted in conjunction with the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which takes place at the United Nations from 27 April to 22 May.

Speakers at the launch will include Angela Kane, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs; Toshio Sano, Ambassador of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament; Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima; Terumi Tanaka, Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor and Secretary-General of the Japan Confederation of A-and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo); and Setsuko Thurlow, Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor.

On 6 and 9 August 1945, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by the first atomic bombs used in warfare.  More than 200,000 people died.  Their deaths were caused by nuclear radiation, shock waves from the blast and thermal radiation.

This multimedia exhibit focuses on the Hibakusha — the survivors of the atomic bombings.  The pictures in this exhibition show the impact of nuclear weapons and how the Hibakusha have lived their lives and continue to be advocates for the abolition of nuclear weapons.  Since the end of the war, more than 400,000 Hibakusha have died — and continue to die — because of the atomic bombs.  Also included in the exhibit are artefacts recovered from the blast areas, donated by the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as a short video.

This exhibition is organized by Nihon Hidankyo and sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, with support from the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Nihon Hidankyo is the only national organization of atomic bomb survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.  It was founded on 10 August 1956, during the Second World Conference against A- and H-Bombs and comprises Hibakusha organizations in all 47 prefectures.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, please contact Renata Morteo at tel.:  +1 212 963 5455, or e-mail:  morteo@un.org.