Country for PR: Japan
Contributor: Kyodo News JBN
Wednesday, October 02 2019 - 17:56
AsiaNet
"Everything You Treasure -- For a World Free From Nuclear Weapons" Exhibition Shown in Kazakhstan
NUR-SULTAN and TOKYO, Oct. 2, 2019/Kyodo JBN - AsiaNet/--

The exhibition "Everything You Treasure -- For a World Free From Nuclear 
Weapons" is on display in the Library of the First President of the Republic of 
Kazakhstan - Elbasy in Nur-Sultan (Astana), from October 2 - 13, to mark the 
30th anniversary of the end of nuclear weapons testing at the Semipalatinsk 
nuclear weapons test site and the 10th anniversary of the Treaty on a 
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia (CANWFZ).

With an estimated 1.5 million of its people suffering the effects of the 
testing of 456 nuclear weapons at Semipalatinsk over a 40-year period, 
Kazakhstan is known for its commitment to ridding the world of nuclear weapons. 
On August 29 this year, it became the 26th country in the world to ratify the 
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Cosponsored by the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), the International Campaign 
to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and the Library of the First President of the 
Republic of Kazakhstan - Elbasy, this showing of "Everything You Treasure" aims 
to attract support for the nuclear ban treaty and to galvanize further interest 
in this issue in Central Asia. Kazakhstan is the 21st country in which it has 
been shown, and this is the first showing in the Russian language.

The exhibition asks viewers to consider how all they treasure in life would be 
threatened by nuclear weapons. It reexamines the nuclear weapons issue from 
diverse perspectives including environmental, medical, economic, human rights, 
energy, spiritual, gender, generational and security aspects.

Amerkhan Rakhimzhanov, Director of the Library of the First President of the 
Republic of Kazakhstan - Elbasy, Kuanysh Sultanov, Chairman of the Human Rights 
Commission of Kazakhstan, and Hirotsugu Terasaki, Director General of Peace and 
Global Issues of SGI, spoke at the opening ceremony that was attended by 100 
people.

Amerkhan Rakhimzhanov commented, "It is especially exciting for me to hold 
within this building this traveling exhibition. The Library of the First 
President deeply values partnerships with both local and international 
like-minded people."

In his message to the opening ( 
https://www.daisakuikeda.org/sub/resources/works/lect/20191001-msg-nuke-abol-kazakhstan.html), 
SGI President Daisaku Ikeda expressed his respect for Kazakhstan's 
contributions to nuclear abolition, stating: "Semipalatinsk was the venue for 
the signing ceremony for the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central 
Asia. It was also a pivotal site for a popular movement opposing nuclear 
weapons..., the Nevada-Semipalatinsk Movement that famously developed into a 
global grassroots effort to ban nuclear weapons testing and nuclear weapons 
themselves."

The exhibition "Everything You Treasure -- For a World Free From Nuclear 
Weapons" 
(https://www.sgi.org/in-focus/2012/eyt-world-free-nuclear-weapons.html) was 
jointly created by the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist network and the 
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), 2017 Nobel Peace 
Prize winner. It was first shown in 2012 in Hiroshima and has been shown in 90 
cities around the world.

www.sgi.org


Source: Soka Gakkai International

Contact:
Joan Anderson
Office of Public Information
Soka Gakkai International
+81-80-5957-4711
anderson[at]soka.jp