Since my pervious message 12 months ago, armed conflict and terrorism are still ravaging Syria and many nations in Africa, among others. The East-West confrontation on Ukraine brings back the era of the Cold War, with the United States and the Russian Federation, both of which are Nuclear-Weapons States, at the frontline. Let's hope that diplomacy will eventually prevail, and that nuclear weapons will never be resorted to ever again, after the unfathomable sufferings of the hundreds of thousands of victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

I have repeatedly stated in my annual messages of all these years that as long as nuclear weapons still exist, the possibility of mass destruction of humankind always remains with us. It has transpired, for example, that the Soviets interpreted a routine NATO command post exercise in November 1983 entitled "Able Archer" as a cover for preparations of nuclear attacks by NATO on the USSR. In response, the USSR putting aircraft in East Germany on high alert and armed them with nuclear weapons. Only a few decades later could the governments concerned realize how close they were on the brink of a full-scale nuclear war. This incident reveals that nuclear war might take place either by well-planned design or by accident/misunderstanding. Therefore, all countries in possession of nuclear weapons must totally destroy their nuclear weapon stockpile, estimated to number approximately 20,000 warheads in all, so that our future generations can live in peace without fear of being indiscriminately wiped out!

It is for this reason that on 24 April 2014 the Republic of the Marshall Islands initiated a series of law suits in the International Court of Justice, or the World Court situated in The Hague, against 9 countries believed to be in possession of nuclear weapons; namely: China, North Korea, France, India, Israel, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the UK, and the USA, asking the World Court to order them to take all necessary steps to fulfill their obligations with respect to the stop of nuclear arms race at an early date and nuclear disarmament within one year of the judgment of the World Court. The Marshall Islands complains that it was a location for repeated nuclear weapons testing from 1946 to 1958, when 67 nuclear weapons of varying explosive power were detonated in the Marshall Islands, at varying distances from human population. The devastating adverse impact on the Marshall Islands of those nuclear substances and wastes is said to continue to these days, and it pleads for survival of not only the citizens of the Marshall Islands but of humanity.

The sufferings as a result of nuclear detonations in the Marshall Islands find their counterparts in the impact and victims of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 69 years ago, although the immediate losses of lives in the two Japanese cities were unprecedented and unparallel in history. As you are aware, the Sata Foundation, whose mission is to secure a better and more humane world, has as our logo the head of the Madonna statue of the Urakami Cathedral situated at the epi-centre of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. We fervently plead for the use of science to better lives instead of harming them. This statue, charred by the extreme heat generated by the atomic bombing, was once exhibited in the Spanish city of Guernica, which experienced one of the worst horrors of the Spanish Civil War and the sufferings of whose citizens are depicted in Picasso's most famous painting, Guernica. Like that Picasso painting, the statue of the Madonna of Nagasaki is a symbol of world peace, being a perpetual reminder of the plight of war and the abuse of scientific knowledge. The statue was also on display at the United Nations Headquarters in New York during the recent Review Conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). This statue thus rightly deserves international recognition at the same level as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome), which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage since 1996. Once again, I reiterate my request for you to join our cause for a universal recognition of the Madonna of Nagasaki as a symbol for a more peaceful and humane world.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Sata Foundation's annual “Run for Peace” cycling rally in Chailly-sur-Armançon, France, to commemorate the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (www.courirpourlapaix.com). The event will be held on Saturday 2 August, with approximately 500 cyclists expected to take part. There will be three circuits: Hiroshima (158 km.), Nagasaki (113 km.) and Tohoku(72 km.). Proceeds from the Rally go to charities whose work falls within the Sata Foundation’s mission.

Your kind support for the Sata Foundation’s causes would be most appreciated.