On the eve of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference that will take place May 3-28 at the United Nations in New York, thousands of NGO representatives and engaged citizens from around the world will come together to participate in a series of actions and events calling for nuclear weapons abolition. After the failure of the 2005 Review Conference, expectations from citizens around the world are high, calling for the Conference to take serious steps towards the abolition of nuclear weapons and make the most of the current global momentum enhanced by President Obama's calls for a world without nuclear weapons.

Many members of GPPAC in Northeast Asia, a region where nuclear disarmament is a high priority, are in New York to hold a series of activities around the NPT Review Conference. This will include several workshops on Northeast Asian issues, including disarmament, military spending and nuclear weapon free zones. Furthermore, Regional Secretariat for Northeast Asia, Peace Boat, is also bringing a delegation of atomic bomb survivors to New York as part of its Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World - Peace Boat Hibakusha Project. The group set sail from Yokohama, Japan on April 16 on the third such voyage, where they will be visiting 22 ports in 20 countries to give testimonies of their experiences of the atomic bomb and spread their messages from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the world.

For more details of activities by GPPAC Northeast Asia members around the NPT, including follow up events, see below.

Nuclear Weapon Free Zones Civil Society Forum
April 29, 10 am - 6 pm, Conference Room 6, 2 floor, United Nations Temporary Building
At this conference, discussions will be held on the role of NWFZs in non-proliferation, disarmament and security, lessons learned from existing NWFZs, proposed NWFZs including Northeast Asia and steps from NWFZs to a nuclear-weapons-free world (NWFW). dialogue between representatives of UN missions and civil society, Ambassador Enkhsaikhan Jargalsaikan of Mongolia presented a message from former Mongolian President Ochirbat, President of the NGO Blue Banner - the GPPAC Focal Point in Ulaanbaatar. As a declared single state Nuclear Weapon Free Zone, Mongolia is playing a great role in promoting the denuclearization of the Northeast Asian region.

This forum is co-sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Chile to the United Nations, Mayors for Peace, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament and the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms.

International Conference for a Nuclear Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World

Workshop: "Challenging Asia-Pacific Militarism and Achieving Nuclear Weapons Abolition."
May 1, 10 am - 12 pm, The Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive, New York
http://peaceandjusticenow.org/wordpress/conference/
Prior to the NPT Review Conference, an International Conference for a Nuclear Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World will be held. Entitled "Challenging Asia-Pacific Militarism and Achieving Nuclear Weapons Abolition," this is co-sponsored by Gensuikyo (Japan), the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament (China), People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (Korea) and American Friends Service Committee (US). As well as GPPAC Northeast Asia Secretariat staff and Peace Boat Executive Committee member Kawasaki Akira, panelists will include John Feffer, Joseph Gerson, Kyle Kajihiro, Melvin Won Pat-Borja, Lee Taeho, Tsuchida Yayoi, Yagasaki Katsuma and a delegate from the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament.

Film Screening: "Flashes of Hope: Hibakusha Traveling the World"
May 1, 4:15 - 5:20 pm, The Riverside Church
Also at the international conference on May 1, the documentary Flashes of Hope: Hibakusha Traveling the World, filmed onboard Peace Boat during its first Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World will be screened from 4:15 pm. Costa Rican film director Erika Bagnarello followed a group of over 100 Hibakusha during their 129-day trip from September 2008 to January 2009 as part of the Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World - Peace Boat Hibakusha Project. The Director will be presenting the film in person on May 1. This film, which was recently screened throughout Japan to critical acclaim, is available on DVD in English, Japanese and Spanish for use around the world as a disarmament education tool. Read more about the film in the Japan Times here: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100422f1.html

Rally and Festival: No Nukes, No Wars, Fund Human Needs, Protect the Planet
Rally: Assembly at 1:30 pm May 2, Times Square (7th Avenue south of 41st St)
Festival: Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (East 47th St between 2nd and 1st Avenues)
On Sunday May 2, the message "No Nukes, No Wars, Fund Human Needs, Protect the Planet" will be carried through a day of action that includes a rally and march, music and peace festival, and more. The day will begin with a dynamic rally of speakers and performers from the international delegations, followed by a spirited march across town to the United Nations. Actions will end with an International Peace & Music Festival where there will be music from around the world as well as tents and tables that will provide information and organizing resources for a safe, nuclear-free, peaceful and just world for all. Peace Boat will also be sharing information about GPPAC activities at its booth at the Festival, taking place from 4pm at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.

Forum: Military Spending in Northeast Asia
May 3, 7pm - 9pm, 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University (116th and Amsterdam)
On May 3, Peace Boat (Japan(, People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (Korea), Peace Network (Korea) and the Institute for Policy Studies (US), will share reports about military spending in Northeast Asia. The world spent $1.5 trillion on the military in 2008. Nearly 70% of that money was spent by the countries involved in the Six Party Talks (The United States, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and North Korea). The region of Northeast Asia is full of conflict (between the two Koreas, between China and Taiwan, between the United States and North Korea). It is also full of the world's most sophisticated weapons. And all of the countries are adding to these arsenals every day. Sponsored by the Pacific Freeze campaign (http://pacificfreeze.ips-dc.org/), this forum will discuss the major problem of skyrocketing military spending and what citizens can do about it.

Workshop: A Northeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Can Boost a "World Without Nuclear Weapons" - Joint Call by Parliamentarians, Mayors and Citizens
May 6, 10 am - 1pm, NGO Room: Room A, North Lawn Building, United Nations
Achieving a world free of nuclear weapons has now become a common agenda among citizens all over the world. Against such a background, the importance and urgency of the denuclearization of Northeast Asia has increasingly heightened. While the Six-Party Talks aiming at denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula are facing difficulties, we strongly believe that the "Northeast Asia nuclear weapon-free zone" initiative will be a key to overcome such difficulties and move this situation forward.

This workshop will feature panelists including Members of Parliament from both Japan and Korea, and mayors including Mayor Taue Tomihisa of Nagasaki. The event is co-sponsored by Peace Boat, Peace Depot, SAY-Peace Project (Japan), People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), Peace Network and Nautilus ARI (Republic of Korea).

Peace Boat Hibakusha Delegation to New York
May 17 - 25, Various Locations
On May 17, a delegation of atomic bomb survivors participating in the Peace Boat Hibakusha Project held onboard the current 69th Global Voyage will be traveling to New York to give a series of testimonies at schools around the New York metro area in collaboration with the Hibakusha Stories project (http://www.hibakushastories.org/). They will then speak at the United Nations at a side event organized by Peace Boat, from 3 - 6 pm on May 24 in the NGO Room at the United Nations Headquarters. This forum will feature the Hibakusha's testimonies and calls for a nuclear-free world, as well as dialogue with representatives of the youth network Ban All Nukes generation (BANg!).

Follow up activities: Nuclear Abolition Day and Peace Boat Onboard Consultation on a Nuclear Weapons Convention
Nuclear Abolition Day: June 5, Global
NWC Consultation: Onboard Peace Boat in Northern Europe, mid-June 2010
While the Hibakusha delegation will return to the ship on May 25, Peace Boat's activities for nuclear disarmament related to the NPT Review Conference will not end here, and follow up will be crucial. Peace Boat will be participating in Nuclear Abolition Day (http://www.nuclearabolition.org/) on June 5. Coinciding with the ship's visit to St Petersburg in the nuclear weapon state Russia, this is a worldwide day to call for action for a Nuclear Weapons Convention, comprehensively banning all nuclear weapons. The following week, a civil society - government consultation is planned for on board the ship, aiming to explore concrete ways to commence negotiations of an NWC, based on the outcomes of the NPT Review Conference and exploring a humanitarian approach for nuclear disarmament.

Contact
For more information about Peace Boat's activities at the UN, please contact Peace Boat US International Coordinator Narae Lee via email (narae@peaceboat-us.org), (+1) (212) 687-7214 (office), (+1) 202-236-8133 (cell), or Peace Boat Executive Committee Member Kawasaki Akira: (+1) 917-403-4208 (cell)

Peace Boat: www.peaceboat.org