Statement on Crisis in Ukraine and Calls for “No First Use” of Nuclear Weapons Pledge

Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) (Photo Credit Seikyo Shimbun)

Tokyo: Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), a peacebuilder and Buddhist leader, issued a statement condemning the cruelty and anguish of war and urging for efforts to restore peace in Ukraine as well as steps to reduce the possibility of nuclear weapons use.

Ikeda, 95, urges for an urgent conference under UN auspices of Russia, Ukraine, and other major countries to achieve an agreement on a cease of hostilities. He also urged states to vow "No First Use" of nuclear weapons to avoid tragedy, diffuse the climate of mutual apprehension, and advance nuclear disarmament, with the risk of nuclear weapons use at its highest since the Cold War.

Ikeda made a similar statement during the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in August 2022, where SGI co-hosted a side event advocating for No First Use rules. Commitment to No First Use in South Asia was also discussed at a recent workshop hosted by Ikeda's Toda Peace Institute.

During the Cold War, "having experienced first-hand the terror of teetering on the brink of nuclear war, the people of that time brought forth historic powers of imagination and creativity," resulting in groundbreaking initiatives such as the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) between the US and the Soviet Union. He invites all countries and peoples to band together once more to unleash such creative powers.

He advocates for action to harness the synergistic benefits of the NPT and the TPNW (Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons) toward the accomplishment of a nuclear-free world.

The whole statement can be seen on the Daisaku Ikeda website.

The Soka Gakkai is a Buddhist organization with a global network that promotes peace, culture, and education. Daisaku Ikeda (1928-) is the president of the Soka Gakkai Worldwide (SGI), an international affiliate of the Soka Gakkai and an NGO with consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. For almost 40 years, Ikeda has produced suggestions proposing specific solutions to the complex difficulties confronting humanity, with a focus on the need to ban nuclear weapons.