Speakers

Survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in utero while still in his mother's womb. President of the Korea Atomic Bombs Victim Association since 2018. The association was established in 1967 to provide health care, and improve the welfare and relief measures for Korean survivors and descendents of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Artist and honorary ambassador of the ATOM project
Karipbek Kuyukov is an artist and nuclear nonproliferation activist born without arms as a result of his parents exposure to radiation from nuclear weapons testing. He has devoted his life and art to making sure that no one else suffers the devastating effects of nuclear weapons testing. He was born in 1968 in the village of Yegindybulak, 100 km from the former Semipalatinsk test site. His parents were living witnesses of nuclear tests - his father worked as a driver and often traveled through the steppe into the territory of the test site, while his mother said that she saw a bright flash, after which it grew dark, as at night.
Before the birth of Karipbek Kuyukov, his family had two children, but they did not live to be 1 year old. When Karipbek was born, his mother experienced such a severe shock that she could not approach the child for three days. Then the doctors called his father and offered to give him an injection, but his father refused...
In 1989 he became an active participant in the anti-nuclear movement Nevada Semipalatinsk. Exhibitions of Karipbek Kuyukov's paintings have been held in Japan, the USA, Germany and Turkey.
In 2013, Karipbek Kuyukov became an honorary ambassador of the ATOM project.

The Pacific Nuclear Disaster Assistance Centre grew out of the Kochi Prefecture Bikini H-Bomb Test Survivors Research Team formed in 1985, and was formed in 2012 to track the health of and seek relief for fishermen and sailors affected by nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll. In 2014, the group was successful in having the Japanese government disclose its official documents, and has been working to record the testimonies of the survivors, demonstrating to the government that the testing and its impacts are still ongoing.

A Cherokee woman born to the bird clan, Pam lives and works on her grandmother’s allotment land in N.E. Oklahoma, growing organic food and bees and consulting with NGOs. Born and raised in the shadow and secrecy of atomic bomb building, her father began work at Hanford in 1943 (Manhattan plutonium production facility in Washington state) and her brother managed a Hanford nuclear reactor for 30 years. Later, her community organizing assisted in stopping the production of 23% of the world's uranium supply at the notoriously contaminated Kerr-McGee “Sequoyah Fuels” plant in Gore, Oklahoma.

Born in Nagasaki City in 1940 and experienced the atomic bombing at the age of 5. From 1969 to 2003, he taught at Gifu Shotoku Gakuen University and Junior College, and is now Professor Emeritus. Founded the Gifu Atomic Bomb Survivors' Association in 1991 and served as its Secretary General. Became the Assistant Secretary General of Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations) in 2008 and Secretary General in 2017.

Kawasaki Akira is a member of the Executive Committee of Peace Boat. He also serves on the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and is the sitting President of the Swiss-registered association. Since 2008, Kawasaki has coordinated “Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World: Peace Boat's Hibakusha Project,” in which atomic bomb survivors travel the world to share their stories. In 2009 and 2010, he was an advisor to the cochairs of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. Since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, he has run a number of projects to spread the messages of those affected, including through organizing two Global Conferences for a Nuclear Power Free World in 2012. As the cochair of Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, he facilitates cooperation among NGOs as well as dialogue between civil society and the government of Japan. He lectures at several universities in Tokyo and writes frequently for Japanese newspapers and for peace and disarmament journals. Kawasaki is the recipient of the 33rd Kiyoshi Tanimoto Peace Prize in 2021.

Dimity Hawkins AM is an Australian activist, researcher and an advocate for a world free from nuclear weapons. Her research and activism over three decades are centred on the history of nuclear weapons testing, nuclear justice, nuclear chain issues and the need to eliminate nuclear weapons. Dimity was a co-founder of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and is a current PhD candidate at Swinburne University in Naarm, Australia. Dimity was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2019 Queens Birthday Honours for "significant service to the global community as an advocate for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament."

Karen Hallows is an International Coordinator at Peace Boat. Over the last fifteen years she has been involved with Peace Boat’s activities to promote peace, human rights and respect for the environment through advocacy and education both onboard the ship and in ports of call. Through Peace Boat’s Global Voyage for a Nuclear Free World: Hibakusha Project, Karen has organized and facilitated study programmes and testimony sessions to share the personal experiences of nuclear survivors and advocate for nuclear abolition.

Beatrice Fihn is the Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-winning campaign coalition that works to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons. She accepted the Nobel Peace Prize and delivered the Nobel Lecture in Oslo on behalf of the campaign.
Ms. Fihn has lead the campaign since 2013 and has worked to mobilise civil society throughout the development of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This includes developing and executing ICAN’s political strategy and fundraising efforts as well as representing the campaign in relation to media and key stakeholders such as governments, the United Nations and other international organisations.
Ms. Fihn has over a decade of experience in disarmament diplomacy and civil society mobilisation, through her work with ICAN, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. She has written extensively on weapons law, humanitarian law, civil society engagement in diplomacy and multilateral institutions, and gender perspective on disarmament work.
Born in Sweden, Ms. Fihn has a Masters in Law from the University of London and a Bachelors degree in International Relations from Stockholm University.

Sue Coleman-Haseldine is a proud Kokatha Elder from the Far West Coast of South Australia. She is a Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, Sister, Aunt and everything in between. She was born and raised on this land during the 1950’s Maralinga testing era, and has been caring for and fighting for the land and the people of this planet her whole life. She is currently involved heavily in the opposition of nuclear weapons and waste, detrimental mineral mining of her people’s Sacred Lands, violation of human rights by use of income management schemes, and drilling for oil and gas in the Great Australian Bight.