Photo/Illutration Setsuko Thurlow in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun in Hiroshima on May 17 (Jun Ueda)

Editor’s note: One of the major themes at the Group of Seven summit, to be held in Hiroshima from May 19, is working toward a world without nuclear weapons.

The Asahi Shimbun interviewed people from various backgrounds to collect their messages for the assembled G-7 leaders.

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As an atomic bomb survivor, what I expect from the Group of Seven leaders is to spend a long time at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and really look at what’s there.

And I want them to ask themselves, “Can we, as humans, possibly repeat what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?”

Humanity is part of the philosophy behind the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons adopted in 2017. The agreement has helped bring the idea that humanity should be placed at the center of the debate on nuclear weapons. We need security for people, not for states.

The idea behind nuclear deterrence is to threaten others for your own security: “Look, we can press the button and kill millions of people at any time.”

It’s an idea that’s absolutely unacceptable.

When I share my experience of Hiroshima, I always talk about my nephew Eiji, who was only 4 years old and had no idea what happened to him when his life was brutally taken away from him. The inhumane atomic bombing did the same thing to thousands of others.

Nuclear weapon states have continued to modernize their nuclear arsenals, with no respect for human life, in a ruthless pursuit of their own security. It’s absolute madness.

I’m often puzzled by what Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is my distant relative, says. He pledged actions for a “world without nuclear weapons” when he took office.

However, he has continued to increase military spending and pursue security policies that are based on the idea of nuclear deterrence.

Japanese people should tell him, “Tell us what you really think,” a bit louder. And he should speak for us and convey our messages to world leaders.

I came back from Canada to Hiroshima for the first time in three and a half years. It’s great to see the G-7 summit inspire people of all generations to raise their voices (against nuclear weapons).

We shouldn’t let this be a one-off party. I want them to keep going and put pressure on the government.

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Born in Hiroshima in 1932, Setsuko Thurlow was a 13-year-old schoolgirl when the atomic bomb was dropped on her city. She later moved to Canada, where she became a social worker. She started campaigning against nuclear weapons in the 1970s. In 2017, she gave a speech in Oslo when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), of which she was a leading figure.

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