The following report was adapted from sokaglobal.org. In his 39th annual peace proposal, SGI President Ikeda calls for increased global cooperation on the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and the elimination of nuclear weapons.
TOKYO, Jan. 26—SGI President Ikeda released his 39th annual peace proposal, “Value Creation in a Time of Crisis,” marking the anniversary of the SGI’s founding.
President Ikeda calls for further global cooperation to address the key issues of our time: the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons. These issues are not constrained by national borders and cannot be solved by any one government or organization alone.
He comments, “Our shared efforts to respond to the pandemic can serve as a foundation for generating global awareness of the essential role of human solidarity in transforming crises.”
Regarding the pandemic, he welcomes the COVAX facility that aims to ensure the global procurement and availability of COVID-19 vaccines. He proposes the holding of a high-level meeting at the U.N. to address COVID-19 and the convening of an online “beyond COVID-19” youth summit to discuss the kind of world young people want to see in the aftermath of this crisis.
President Ikeda also highlights the economic devastation brought about by the pandemic, estimated to be threatening the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people—half the world’s workforce— and emphasizes the need to promote global social protection initiatives. He calls on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to play a leading role here and in a transition to a green economy in which resources saved on military expenditure can be allocated to expanding health care and social services.
Consistent with his decades of action toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, the SGI president welcomes the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which entered into force on Jan. 22 as a “pivotal event ushering in a new era” that will spur a paradigm shift in approaches to security.
He calls on Japan to participate in the first meeting of the States Parties to the TPNW to begin creating the conditions in which future ratification can become possible.
He proposes that a forum for discussing the relationship between nuclear weapons and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals be held during the first meeting of States Parties to the TPNW.
At the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference scheduled for August, he also urges discussion on the true meaning of security in the light of crises such as the climate emergency and the pandemic.
President Ikeda calls for the final document of the Review Conference to include a pledge of nonuse of nuclear weapons and the freezing of all nuclear weapon development until 2025.
Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada issued a statement welcoming the entry into force of the TPNW on Jan. 22. The SGI has also co-signed an interfaith statement together with more than 170 other religious groups.
The Soka Gakkai International is an international association of the Soka Gakkai and a nongovernmental organization in consultative status with the U.N. Economic and Social Council. Every year since 1983, President Ikeda has issued a peace proposal on Jan. 26 to mark the SGI’s founding.
The full proposal in English will be available at sokaglobal.org in mid-February.
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