Nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament, and humanitarianism talk by Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow – a joint York Quakers and York Human Rights City Network event

Sunday 08 May from 12:00 to 13:30 at Friargate Quaker Meeting House.
Joint meeting between York Quakers and York Human Rights City Network

Setsuko Thurlow will speak on “nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament, and humanitarianism”

Setsuko Thurlow was a young girl when an atomic bomb detonated over her home town of Hiroshima in 1945. She is one of the Hibakusha – literally ‘the explosion affected people, the survivors of the two atomic bombs. Her childhood experience of the massive human suffering and devastation caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima led her to decide to serve society through the profession of social work. She has dedicated most of her adult life to the mission of the abolition of nuclear weapons through disarmament education around the world. She has shared her first-hand experience with many different audiences as part of the Hibakusha Stories project (www.hibakushastories.org) in order to sensitise people to the consequences of armed conflict on civilian populations and to promote lasting peace. The Japanese government recently appointed her as a Special Communicator for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, and to address the United Nations General Assembly First Committee. She has been awarded The Order of Canada, where she lives. Last year she was voted ‘Arms Control Person of the Year’ by the US Arms Control Associations for her “unyielding dedication to sharing first-hand accounts of the catastrophic and inhumane effects of nuclear
weapons”. In 2015 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.