About Us
TOWARD A NUCLEAR FREE WORLD was launched in 2009 with a view to raising and strengthening public awareness of the urgent need for non-proliferation and ushering in a world free of nuclear weapons.
It has been a joint project of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate Japan (Formerly Inter Press Service Japan) and the lay Buddhist network Soka Gakkai International (SGI) in Consultative Status with ECOSOC in partnership with likeminded media networks such as Inter Press Service (IPS) , Himalmedia which publishes Nepali Times, The Independent Media Group which publishes London Post and INPS gGmbH (Formerly Globalom Media) which publishes IDN-InDepthNews (IDN). Project Reports (2009-2023)
It aims to expand the involvement of ordinary citizens worldwide in efforts toward making nuclear weapons obsolete by shedding light on the issues involved from the professional global network of INPS Japan's overseas partners and beyond.
The target audiences for the multilingual articles emerging from the project are: the public reached through the traditional and new media including NGOs, CSOs, UNOs, key leaders, legislators and decision-makers globally and in countries that feel the necessity to review the very concept of non-proliferation as advocated by the nuclear-weapon states.
The significance of the Project is underscored by the fact that:
In 2017, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted by the UN General Assembly and opened for signature at the UN, marking a turning point in the global history of efforts to achieve peace and disarmament. Attention is now focused on pushing for an early entry into force and universalization of the Treaty.
Nuclear weapon states have been fiercely opposing the Treaty arguing that it ignores the reality of vital security considerations, and indicating that hey would not engage with the Ban Treaty.
The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review announced in February against the backdrop of the Korean Peninsular crisis, laden with a potential nuclear confrontation, will have a direct impact on discussions on Nuclear Ban Treaty, drawing attention to policy trends in concerned countries toward peace and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who has warned that "Global anxieties about nuclear weapons are the highest since the Cold War" and also announced intention "to explore opportunities to generate a new direction and impetus for the global disarmament agenda".
Complete elimination of nuclear weapons is increasingly becoming a global collaborative effort calling for relentless commitment and robust solidarity between States, International Organizations and Civil Society. In order to secure a foothold for a world free from nuclear weapons, it is necessary to expand the involvement of citizens worldwide. This is precisely what this project aims at.