VCDNP Senior Fellow Angela Kane shares her analysis of the G7 Leaders’ Vision on Nuclear Disarmament in a special feature in the 2024 Hiroshima Report, a comprehensive review of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation efforts in the year prior.
Ms. Kane underlines the welcome focus on nuclear disarmament and strong signal about the catastrophic consequences of nuclear escalation sent by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s initiative to convene the G7 leaders in Hiroshima. The four-page statement adopted at the Summit reiterated states’ commitment to achieving a world without nuclear weapons and to several supporting principles, such as non-proliferation, arsenal transparency, and dialogue. However, insertions about the deterrence value of nuclear weapons and their security function in a time of growing geopolitical strife as well as the absence of Russia and China from the Summit undermined its significance, Ms. Kane argues.
While acknowledging today’s difficult security environment, Ms. Kane points to the lack of progress on implementing any of the actions towards disarmament progress that the statement identified, including mutual notifications of strategic military activities and enhanced transparency. Ms. Kane points out further weaknesses in the document, such as the omission of the humanitarian impacts of nuclear explosions despite growing global awareness of the suffering of victims and survivors, especially in Japan.
The Hiroshima Report has been published annually since 2013 by the Japan Institute for International Affairs and the Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace, an advocacy group created by the Hiroshima prefecture.
