Eight decades have now passed since a nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and another one on Nagasaki three days later. The unprecedented destruction of human lives and devastation of properties caused by the bombs have dissuaded another use of nuclear weapons ever since, but the threat of their use is always there.

　The Charter or the United Nations starts by mentioning that the core purpose of the UN is to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”. Yet, the UN Secretary-General’s report dated 29 May 2025 entitled “Responsibility to Protect: 20 years of commitment to principled and collective action” alludes to the fact that parties to conflicts are increasingly using methods and means of warfare that show a blatant disregard for human life, in clear violation of international law and treaty obligations. This trend includes the widespread and indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas – such as aerial bombardments, missile strikes and improvised explosive devices – and deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure.

　It is worth recalling that the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, in force since 22 January 2021, has 73 parties – up from 70 last year, none of which is a country in possession of nuclear weapons. The 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June 2025, with the United States intervening to assist Israel, was caused by Israel’s concern that Iran might be able to have nuclear weapons and, as such, threaten Israel’s very survival. If such fear has led to a full-scale war and hundreds, if not thousands, of human deaths or sufferings, why does not the world eliminate nuclear weapons altogether?

　Writing in January 2007 (https://www.henryakissinger.com/articles/a-world-free-of-nuclear-weapons/), Henry Kissinger stresses that while the doctrine of mutual Soviet-American deterrence by means of nuclear weapons might have maintained international security during the Cold War, this has become obsolete after the Cold War and reliance on nuclear weapons in response to threats from other nations has become increasingly hazardous and decreasingly effective. Most alarmingly for him, the likelihood that non-state terrorists will have access to nuclear weaponry is increasing and non-state terrorist groups with nuclear weapons are conceptually outside the bounds of a deterrent strategy and present difficult security challenges.

　This is why we at the Sata Foundation are firm in our conviction that nuclear weapons must be totally eliminated. We draw our inspiration from the depressing sight of the total destruction of the Urakami Church in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb exploded some 500 metres away despite the fact that places of worship of any religion are not legitimate military targets. The charred head of the statue of the Madonna from the Church has become the Sata Foundation’s logo to serve our campaigns against nuclear weapons, our efforts to promote humanitarianism, and our aspiration for a world living in peace with the proper use of science and technology as well as for the allocation of scarce resources for the betterment of humankind of whatever nationality, race, religion or ethnicity.

　On Saturday 2 August 2025, the Sata Foundation organized the 20th edition of the Run for Peace Rally, held annually since 2005 except for 2020 due to COVID-19, in Chailly-sur-Armançon, France’s Burgundy, with several hundred participating cyclists, under the co-sponsorship of Bernard Hinault and Francesco Moser. The Rally pays tribute to the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and alerts humankind to the peril of nuclear weapons, as well as expresses support for innocent victims of wars around the world. It also raises funds for the Sata Foundation’s mission and donates €2 per registration to the victims of the 2011 tsunami, which particularly affected the Tohoku region in Japan.
Please visit the website: https://www.courirpourlapaix.com/.

Your kind support for the Sata Foundation is always much appreciated.

Yasuhiko Sata
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Sata Foundation