2 August 2022, Hiroshima, Japan – 6 August 2022 marks 77 years since an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. To commemorate the day, youth from across Japan will have a heart-to-heart talk with António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, about their ideas and solutions for achieving a peaceful, more secure and sustainable world – one without nuclear weapons. The informal, in-person gathering will be held in Hiroshima in parallel with the annual Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony. The session will be livestreamed in English and Japanese via YouTube.

This is the first time the Secretary-General will attend the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, which is held annually on 6 August. 

The meeting between the Secretary-General and the youth is organized by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), the United Nations Information Centre, Tokyo (UNIC Tokyo), and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) together with Hiroshima Prefecture / Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace (HOPe). 

The Secretary-General’s visit to Hiroshima comes against a backdrop of global discussions on nuclear disarmament. The First Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was held in Vienna (21 to 23 June 2022). The TPNW entered into force on 22 January 2021. From 1 – 26 August 2022, the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is taking place in New York, after being postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.