By Philip Jennings, IPB Co-President
“I forget things easily, but I can’t forget that day. I want to, but I can’t. I need to hand down my experience. Until the age of 80, I refused to speak about August 6, but now I do. I was 15. I worked in a tobacco factory; we were 600 metres from the epicentre. There was a white light, then a blast which rocked me. I had a moment to seek shelter that saved me, but my friends did not. There were fires and bodies everywhere. Children and adults with skin covered in blisters. The skin was hanging from their bodies. Children were crying, and then silence as their hearts stopped. I collected the bodies, and we made funeral pyres day after day.”
These words from a Hibakusha were shared at the 2025 Gensuikyo A & H conference in Hiroshima. The audience listened in respectful silence, with many tears being shed.
The Hibakusha message was relayed to all memorial events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki this year. Their average age is now 86, and they number fewer than 100,000. They recounted the horrors of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that took place 80 years ago. The horrific humanitarian consequences of these attacks are a story that must be told, they insist.
In their twilight years, the survivors who have long toiled are freshly emboldened by Nihon Hidankyo winning the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. As the Survivors stated, it means the world has been told to take notice of the dangers humanity faces in an era of great risk.
They expressed their alarm that the world is heading again toward nuclear war. These worries were captured in the UN Secretary-General’s remarks at the official Hiroshima and Nagasaki peace ceremonies. He referred to a world in breakdown:
“Today the risk of nuclear conflict is growing. Trust is eroding. Geopolitical divisions are widening. And the very weapons that brought such devastation to Hiroshima and Nagasaki are once again being treated as tools of coercion.”
He reminded us that this was also the 80th anniversary of the founding of the UN, created to “prevent war, to uphold human dignity, and to ensure none of the tragedies of the past were repeated.”
The warning of being close to the nuclear abyss, of state competition rather than cooperation, and the rise of hate and autocracy in a world experiencing more conflict since the Second World War was a recurrent theme.
I was honoured to represent the IPB in a series of peace events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I was not alone: IPB co-chair Corazon Valdos Fabros and former Vice President Joseph Gerson were present with me at the World A & H Conference.
Corazon delivered a powerful IPB peace message to the opening plenary of the A & H rally. The message warned that global leaders are driving the nuclear arms race to new heights during a global climate of unprecedented threats and criticised the nuclear-armed states for their empty gestures and statements toward nuclear abolition, all while boosting their own nuclear weapon capacities.
In his address to the 2,000 people present, Joseph Gerson referred to the “three scorpions in a bottle” — the USA, China, and Russia — and how this greatly complicates risk reduction and disarmament. He appealed for these commemorations to serve as an inspiration as powerful forces for nuclear disarmament and abolition.
There were many friends of the IPB present, including two Sean MacBride Prize winners, Alexander Kmentt and Jeremy Corbyn, who both delivered keynote addresses.
In my union life, I have been working with unions in Japan for 40 years and have seen the work they undertake for peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons. The trade union centre organised rallies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which I attended. They demanded clear initiatives for nuclear abolition without relying on “nuclear deterrence” doctrines. They have launched a 10 million signature campaign for nuclear abolition. In a pointed statement to the Japanese government, their peace declaration stated it was time for the government to proactively fulfil its role and responsibility toward the realisation of a world “without nuclear weapons.”
I brought the Uni Global Union World Congress to Nagasaki 15 years ago. It was a turning point for us and the thousands present to give peace more prominence in our work.
I have been a close friend of Nagasaki ever since and received their peace and friendship award. I met with former Nagasaki Mayor Taue, a good friend of the IPB, and conducted a press and TV interview in Nagasaki.
In recent years, the IPB has built good working relations with the ITUC, ETUC, and global unions. Just two weeks prior to the peace conferences, the IPB, the ITUC, together with ICAN, Greenpeace, 350.org, and Oxfam launched a joint statement and conducted a joint webinar on the theme of For Democracy that Delivers Peace and Prosperity for All.
In both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Luc Triangle, the ITUC General Secretary, underlined their commitment to peace and insisted the labour movement must “double down for peace.” He also spoke of the need for peace and common security, echoing the recommendations of the 2022 Global Commission on Common Security, a joint initiative of the IPB, ITUC, and Olof Palme Centre. The need for common security was another recurrent theme during several events.
I participated in the official Nagasaki ceremony, a beautiful and moving experience, with survivors and young people having the opportunity to speak and sing. It was so encouraging to see the streets thronged with young people and the growing role of schoolchildren, who now make up the Nagasaki and Hiroshima peace messengers — a national initiative. These young faces and the work we all undertake are very reassuring to the Hibakusha, who fear their experiences will be lost and forgotten.
There were two telling moments in the Nagasaki official ceremony. One was the disappointment that the Japanese Prime Minister failed to give any commitment or mention the TPNW.
The second was the powerful plea for peace from the Nagasaki Mayor, who said:
“Conflicts around the world are intensifying in a vicious circle of confrontation and fragmentation. If we continue on this trajectory, we will end up thrusting ourselves into nuclear war. This existential crisis of humanity has become imminent to each and every one of us living on Earth.”
The Mayor, along with all organisations present, praised the work of the Hibakusha, reminding the thousands present that Nihon Hidankyo was launched in Nagasaki in 1956 and commending their work to transform thinking in support of the idea that we all should become “global citizens.”
The phrase expresses the desire to “build a peaceful future together, beyond the barriers of race or national borders, of one big ‘city’ called Earth.” Is it not this “global citizen” perspective that will serve as the driving force behind stitching back our fragmented world?” they questioned.
After the event, it was good to have more informal talks with allies of the IPB, including Melissa Parke from ICAN and Stefan Löfven, ex-Swedish PM and current Chair of SIPRI and the Party of European Socialists (PES).
My closing thoughts return to the Hibakusha whose remarks opened this article. She recounted how she collected bodies and bones, trying to identify the remains. She cannot recall where the bodies are buried or the location of the funeral pyres. She said,
“When you walk in Hiroshima, remember that perhaps every step you take there are remains under your feet.”
She asked us to say sorry to those lost souls; their souls may be lost, but you can bring them alive in your own soul, she appealed.
It’s a promise the IPB will keep as we continue to speak for those lost souls and nuclear abolition, which is deeply written into the IPB character.
In just a few months, the IPB Council will meet in Barcelona. It is a time of renewal, as a new Board and Council will be elected. We will also debate future strategy, which will include our ongoing work and commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons.
We will never forget the Hibakusha we have known and supported, and we hope that with this commitment, we give them the reassurance they deserve.