May 22, 1978Appeal to UN for Nuclear Disarmament
On this day, Ikeda submitted a ten-point proposal on nuclear disarmament to the first Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament that opened in New York on May 23. Among the UN-based initiatives Ikeda proposed was the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones, the dismantling and reduction of nuclear arsenals, creation of a special committee to monitor nuclear states, and the establishment of a war museum for peace education purposes. Three years earlier, Soka Gakkai youth presented UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim an antinuclear petition signed by ten million Japanese, a campaign first proposed by Ikeda.
[See also "A Grassroots Movement" in PEACEBUILDER]