June 2026
In August 2024, I represented Australia among participants from 37 countries in the inaugural UN Youth Leader Fund for a World without Nuclear Weapons (YLF) program, focusing on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation efforts.
As part of the program, we adopted the “DeclarACTION“, a UN document declaring our action and commitment to creating a world free of nuclear weapons. We travelled to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where we exchanged ideas with Hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bombings), Japanese youth, and disarmament experts from civil society and the diplomatic field. I was featured on SBS News in English, Chinese, and Japanese (digital and audio).
This comes as a timely post as the second cohort of the program travels to Japan at the end of this month, with a particular objective on communication and storytelling. I wanted to highlight some memorable moments of my journey, that hopefully inspire the next generation to continue the good work.
I share this message from the DeclarACTION:
To guide and enlighten the world toward a future where peace prevails, where the shadow of nuclear devastation is forever banished, and where nuclear warfare is merely a relic of the past, never to be repeated.
Hibakusha’s Testimony
I was fortunate to hear the first-hand experiences of Hibakusha, who were courageous in sharing their stories held close to their hearts. In fact, many Hibakusha were unwilling to share their story publicly. In my interview with SBS News, I shared that listening to the stories had been very moving for me, as I recounted the reality of the survivors in the immediate aftermath:
Children being very thirsty and hoping that they could eat some food or drink some water and seeing rain from the sky, not realising that it’s actually very harmful to their body…and describing the charred or charcoaled bodies on the street, not actually recognising whether it was a man or a woman.
Survivors also faced societal and legal discrimination after the bombings, especially women who had difficulty getting standing in a traditional society that valued a woman’s status based on their ability to marry and conceive children (who were thought to have ‘passed on’ their condition).
They all shared the same wish — for countries to disarm nuclear weapons before they die. I hope their testimonies carry on until the end of time.
A Message of Hope
If I could summarise my UN YLF experience, it would be a message of hope. Hope doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it emerges from a connection between ideas.
But first, I must contrast that perspective with the bleak reality of our times where there is a current lack of optimism for the future; we feel no hope. I had this conversation with a fellow participant sitting on the bus next to me as we made our way from Nagasaki to Hiroshima, sharing the same ambition to influence nuclear weapons policy for the betterment of humanity. But we were so young, and our individual efforts would never amount to any change in State behaviour to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles. What could we realistically do?
It all starts with sharing our ideas, hopes, and dreams.
We participants published the DeclarACTION at the end of the program to demonstrate our commitment to three pillars that were important to us: Hibakusha and Community Engagement, Youth Participation in Political and Inter-Governmental Processes, and Research and Academia. In the past two years, we have participated in countless conferences and high-level meetings, collectively contributing to meaningful change across the three pillars. I can attest to everyone’s quiet achievements as the admin of the cohort group chat!
As for myself, representing Australian Red Cross for the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings last year, I was hosted by Japanese Red Cross in Tokyo to discuss how Red Cross Societies can support one another in advancing a shared humanitarian vision. We strengthened our relationships and reinforced the enduring importance of our collective work towards the prohibition of nuclear weapons.
Nuclear weapons are an existential threat to humanity. We all have the responsibility to carry on that message across generations so that it is not lost over time. I hope this post inspires you to believe in yourself, and to do something greater than yourself that serves in the best interests of humanity. We can do it together, one step at a time. Patience is a virtue!
I thank the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, with the financial support of the Government of Japan, for their continuing efforts towards eliminating nuclear weapons.