Peace
Activities
Annual Report 2022

SGI Annual Report 2022

About Us
We are a globally connected
community that inspires hopeto create peace
The Soka Gakkai is a global, community-based Buddhist
organization with a membership of over 12 million people
around the world that promotes peace, culture and education
centered on respect for the dignity of life. The Soka Gakkai
International (SGI) as a non-governmental organization has
been in consultative status with the United Nations Economic
and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 1983. The SGI Office for
UN Affairs operates in New York and Geneva, representing
the SGI at the UN.

3

Action for Peace

Peace Proposals

The SGI strives to strengthen
connections between
individuals, civil society andthe UN in order to build apeaceful, just and inclusive
world. Our focus areas of work
include peace, disarmament,sustainability and climatechange, human rights
education, gender equality andwomen’s empowerment andhumanitarian relief. We believethat when united toward ashared goal, human beings havethe power to do extraordinary
things.

Beginning in 1983, over a periodof 40 years, annual peace
proposals were authored by
Daisaku Ikeda, the president of
SGI. These proposals, as well
as statements he continues
to issue, serve to guide the
SGI’s work at the UN. They also
inform the activities undertaken
by local Soka Gakkaiorganizations around theworld. Peace proposals datingfrom 2000 to the present areavailable for download.

Soka Gakkai organizations andtheir members around theworld also engage in grassroots
activities to promote theculture of peace, based on theunderstanding that individual
happiness and the realizationof a peaceful world are
inextricably linked. Each localorganization develops activities
in support of the UN agenda
in line with its unique culturalcontext.

The peace proposals haveconsistently focused on ways ofrevitalizing and strengthening
the role of the UN and theimportance of civil society
participation, with the belief
that the global solidarity ofordinary citizens committed
to supporting the UN will help
empower and strengthen it. In
2013, a compilation of 30 years
of proposals addressing theUnited Nations was publishedas A Forum for Peace.

© Seikyo Shimbun

Explore ourPeace Proposals

SGI Annual Report 2022

5

Focus Areas
Human Rights Education

Upholding the ultimate respect forhuman dignity, our disarmament
work focuses on nuclear abolitionand stopping killer robots, also
known as autonomous weaponssystems. Both types of weapons
are built on the radical negationof others—of their humanity andof their equal right to happinessand life. The SGI is therefore an
active member of the International
Campaign to Abolish Nuclear
Weapons (ICAN) and the Stop Killer
Robots coalition.

Sustainable Development& Climate Change
Based on the profound awarenessof our interconnectedness with
our fellow inhabitants of Earth andthe natural world, SGI engages inadvocacy and community-basedawareness-raising activities toensure a sustainable future. We
envisage this future in the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), which
are grounded in humanity’s right toa healthy environment and the needto protect those most adversely
affected by the climate crisis.

Éva Kaprinay

Disarmament

Respect for all life is a central
tenet of Buddhism. We believetransformation of the individual is
the foundation for structural andsystemic change in society. Humanrights education can propel us toovercome discrimination and hatred,
recognize the value and dignity of all,and empower people to constructa culture of human rights. Throughadvocacy and non-formal education,
we support the World Programmefor Human Rights Education (2005–
ongoing) and the United Nations
Declaration on Human Rights
Education and Training (2011).

Gender Equality &Women’s Empowerment
Respect and equality, including
gender equality, are central to the
Buddhist teachings we embrace.
SGI has been committed to women’s
empowerment and leadership,
which we see as a self-motivatedprocess to bring forth our full
human potential. With its grassroots
presence around the world, SGI has
built an extensive network of women
who are leading its movement topromote the culture of peace.
We strive to contribute to the UN
by highlighting the vast role andcapacity of women to address andovercome our global challenges.

Peace
Building peace involves us all. As
Buddhists who treasure life, peaceis the heart of SGI’s mission. We
promote the culture of peace
as a set of values, attitudes andways of life that reject violence
and are centered on dialogue. We
hope to see the culture of peace
deeply rooted in our communities
and societies, and we view it asa framework that enables us toapproach the various issues at the
UN reflected in our focus areas asinterconnected and interrelated.

Humanitarian Relief
SGI’s engagement in humanitarianrelief activities is driven by our
Buddhist belief in the dignity oflife. Taking the sufferings of others
as one’s own is the philosophicalwellspring for SGI’s activities as
we aim to contribute to efforts toincrease people’s resilience, andto provide emergency relief indevastating situations.

SGI Annual Report 2022

SGI President Calls on States
to Commit to “No First Use” ofNuclear Weapons in Series ofStatements

Since July 2022, Daisaku
Ikeda, president of SGI, hasissued three statements
calling for nuclear weapon
states to pledge No FirstUse of these weapons to
avoid catastrophe, defuse
the climate of mutual
fear and promote nuclear
disarmament.
The first statement was issued on 26
July 2022, ahead of the Tenth NPT(Treaty on the Non-Proliferationof Nuclear Weapons) Review
Conference that began on 1 August
at UN Headquarters in New York. It
called on the five nuclear-weapon
states to declare that they will neverbe the first to use nuclear weapons
in conflict: the principle of “No First
Use.”
Amidst the heightened risk of
the use of nuclear weapons,
the statement urged that thefollowing points be included in
the Final Document of the Review
Conference:skaterlunatic / Unsplash

7•

That the five nuclear-weapon
states pledge to continue toabide by their January 2022
Joint Statement on preventing
nuclear war and avoiding arms
races, immediately pursuingmeasures to reduce the risks
posed by nuclear weaponsin accord with their Article
VI nuclear disarmament
commitments.

•

That the five nuclear-weapon
states, as a matter of highest
priority, declare theircommitment to the principleof No First Use at the earliest
possible date.

•That in order to solidify the
Joint Statement’s declarationthat “none of our nuclear
weapons are targeted at eachother or at any other State,”
all states possessing nuclear
weapons, as well as the nucleardependent states, must make
No First Use their universal
security policy.

On 11 January 2023, Ikeda issued
his second statement on No FirstSGI Annual Report 2022
Use, decrying the cruelty and miseryof war, calling for action aimed at
restoring peace in Ukraine andurging steps to lessen the risk of
the use of nuclear weapons. It called
for the foreign ministers of Russia,
Ukraine and other key countries
to urgently hold a meeting under
UN auspices to reach agreement
on a cessation of hostilities. Ikeda’s
statement called for action thatwould harness the synergistic
effects of the NPT and the Treaty on
the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons(TPNW) toward the realization of aworld free from nuclear weapons.
The third statement, issued on 27
April 2023, called on the leadersof the G7 countries meeting in
Hiroshima from 19-21 May to takebold steps toward resolving theconflict in Ukraine and guarantee
the security of all humanity by taking

the lead in discussions on pledgesof No First Use of nuclear weapons.
Ikeda warned that with the taboo
against the use of nuclear weapons
being eroded among the nuclearweapon states, and frameworks
for managing and reducing nuclear
arsenals verging on collapse, there
has never been a greater need toestablish policies of No First Use.
Regarding Ukraine, the statement
urged that the G7 Hiroshima Summit
provide a “prescription for hope” byworking for an immediate cessationof attacks on civilian infrastructureand developing concrete plans fornegotiations that would lead to a
cessation of hostilities.

Read allNo First Use
Statements

Disarmament

9Stop Killer Robots

SGI Annual Report 2022
our universal vulnerability and theurgent need for internationallybinding legislation. SGI supported
the film launch, along with Amnesty
International, Article 36, Human
Rights Watch, Mines Action Canada
and Privacy International.
On 29 October 2022, the Soka
Gakkai Peace Committee in Japan
organized an online screeningof Immoral Code as a part of its
Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) Online Cinema Series. SDG
16 aims to promote peaceful andinclusive societies and reduce all

11

forms of violence; screenings ofImmoral Code support this goal by
preventing potential violence thatkiller robots could cause in the
future. Following the screening, Yuki
Sakurai, Program Coordinator at
Association for Aid and Relief, Japan(AAR Japan) and steering groupmember of Stop Killer Robots,
spoke on the challenges posed bykiller robots, including legal andsecurity aspects, human control of
weapon systems, gender inequality
and algorithmic bias.

VIENNA , AUSTRIA
Launch of Immoral Code at the Prince Charles Cinema in London’s Leicester Square

SGI Actively Participates in Historic First Meetingof States Parties to the TPNWLONDON, UK

Several key meetings took place inVienna, Austria between 18–23 June
2022, including the historic First
Meeting of States Parties (1MSP)
to the UN Treaty on the Prohibitionof Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which
was held from 21–23 June.

Immoral Code, a 23-minutedocumentary that raises importantquestions about how far we areprepared to let machines makedecisions of life and death, waslaunched for online viewing on
24 May 2022. The film cleverly
demonstrates the complexity ofhuman decision-making and thedangers posed by autonomous
weapons that could “decide” who tokill.
Immoral Code was produced by
Stop Killer Robots, a global coalitionof more than 180 NGOs andacademic partners working toensure meaningful human control
over the use of force through thedevelopment of new internationallaw. SGI has been an international
member of Stop Killer Robots
since 2018. Hayley Ramsay-Jonesof SGI, as a member of the Stop
Killer Robots Working Groupon Intersectionality, advised thefilmmakers on issues related torepresentation, race and gender.
An in-person launch of Immoral
Code was held on 19 May 2022
at the Prince Charles Cinema in
London’s Leicester Square, followed
by a panel of experts who stressed

The week began with theInternational Campaign to Abolish
Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Nuclear
Ban Forum on 18–19 June, followedby the Austrian Government’s
Vienna Conference on the
Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear
Weapons, a Parliamentarian
Conference on 20 June and, finally,
the Youth MSP on 21 June.
Throughout the week,
representatives of SGI worked
with governments and civil society
groups to call for the universalizationof and compliance with the TPNW.
Highlights of SGI’s activities at 1MSPThe paper highlighted theimportance of peace anddisarmament education and madeseveral recommendations toStates Parties, including supporting
survivors, affected communities,
civil society, youth and educational
institutions promoting sucheducation.

© Seikyo Shimbun

SGI Supports Launch of Immoral Code, Film
Calling for New International Law on Autonomous
Weapons Systems

included co-authoring a working
paper on peace and disarmament
education with the International
Disarmament Institute of Pace
University.

Presenting the Joint Interfaith Statement
to President of 1MSP Ambassador
Alexander Kmentt

SGI Annual Report 2022
On 21 June, SGI co-sponsoreda side event with the Ministry ofForeign Affairs of Kazakhstan, thePermanent Mission of Kiribati to
the United Nations and the Nuclear
Age Peace Foundation. The event
promoted victim assistance,
environmental remediation andinternational cooperation in line with
Articles 6 and 7 of the TPNW.

U N H E ADQUARTERS , N E W YORK , U SA

SGI Advocates for No First Use and Joins InterfaithInitiatives at the NPT Review Conference
During the Tenth Review Conferenceof the Parties to the Treaty on
the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons (NPT) that took place inAugust 2022 at UN Headquarters
in New York, SGI organized aside event sponsored by thePermanent Mission of the Republicof Kazakhstan to the United Nations,“Avoiding Nuclear War: What
Short-Term Steps Can Be Taken?”Moderated by Anna Ikeda of SGI,
the event was co-sponsored by theArms Control Association (ACA),Council on Strategic Risks (CSR),
Institute of World Economics andPolitics (IWEP) and International
Peace and Understanding (IPU).

The 1MSP concluded with the Vienna
Declaration and the Vienna Action
Plan, both adopted by States Parties
to the TPNW. These documents
are widely considered to be thestrongest multilateral documents on
nuclear weapons thus far.

© Seikyo Shimbun

Also on 21 June, the SGI
youth delegation worked withrepresentatives from the antinuclear campaign Senzatomica
and held a workshop on grassroots
educational movements at theYouth MSP. Participants discussed
reshaping the discourse aroundnuclear weapons and alternativeeducational approaches to empower
learners.

SGI also worked on a joint interfaithstatement that was delivered at the
1MSP on 22 June by Olivia Baro, ayouth representative of the PacificConference of Churches. Signed by
144 organizations from diverse faithtraditions, the statement highlighted
the immoral and unethical natureof nuclear weapons and urged
wider ratification of the TPNW.
Additionally, SGI helped to draft andendorse the youth statement to theMSP.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador
Magzhan Ilyassov, Permanent
Representative of the Republic of
Kazakhstan to the UN, stressed
the importance of educating andengaging the public on the issue of
nuclear weapons.
The three panelists—Christine
Parthemore of CSR, Yerzhan
Saltybayev of IEWP, and Alexander
Harang of IPU—shared various
perspectives on the theme of theevent, including the importance ofconsistency in both doctrines andeffective plans regarding nuclear
weapons, pursuing a legally binding
commitment for No First Use,and elevating the role of the nonnuclear-weapon states.
Serving as a discussant, Daryl
Kimball of ACA noted measures

SGI representatives participating in the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW

13

The side event, “Avoiding Nuclear War:
What Short-Term Steps Can Be Taken?”that can be taken to reduce risk,such as establishing direct lines ofcommunication, resuming dialogue,
and refraining from provocative
actions among nuclear-weapon
states.
Nearly 90 participants, including
representatives from States
Parties and civil society, crowded
the conference room where theevent was held, demonstrating
great interest in the topic. Audience
members actively engaged in thediscussion and raised questions,such as the role of faith communities
and the general public in advancing
nuclear disarmament.
In addition, SGI helped to draft
the Joint Interfaith Statement
to the NPT Review Conference,
which was endorsed by 104
organizations from various faithSGI Annual Report 2022
The statement was delivered during
the NGO statement presentations
at the conference plenary session on
5 August.
SGI also joined other groups
to support the first annual
Nuclear Prayer Day, an initiative
spearheaded by Voices, on andaround 6 August. On 5 August, SGI
co-sponsored the Nuclear Prayer
Day-Hiroshima/Nagasaki Interfaith
Peace Gathering held at the Tillman
Chapel of the Church Center for theUN, where Chie Sunada of the Soka
Gakkai Women’s Peace Committee
read the Joint Interfaith Statement
to the NPT to attendees.

K U A L A L U M P U R , M A L AY S I A

Soka Gakkai Malaysia Joins Interfaith Conference on
TPNW
Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)
on 1 August 2022. Speakers andrepresentatives from universities
and non-governmental organizations
explored youth advocacy towards
eliminating nuclear weapons
during the two-day event, which
was facilitated by the National
Chairperson of the Malaysian Red
Crescent Society (MRCS) and Tunku
Temenggong Kedah, YTM Dato’ Seri
DiRaja Tan Sri Tunku Puteri Intan
Safinaz binti Almarhum Sultan Abdul
Halim Mu’adzam Shah.
Malaysia Soka Gakkai

An interfaith conference on the
UN Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) titled“National Implementation and theRole of Youth” took place at the
Senate Hall of the International

Interfaith conference on the TPNW held at
the Islamic University of Malaysia

During a panel discussion on thehumanitarian impact of nuclear
weapons, Soka Gakkai Malaysia

Weapons,” interfaith dialogues andseminars, documentaries and radio
interviews. Leng explained that
Buddhism values the dignity of eachindividual’s life and the concept of
the interconnectedness of life. He
concluded, “Therefore, from the
Buddhist perspective, the TPNW is
indispensable in protecting not only
the peace of mankind as a whole, butalso the preservation of the global
ecosystem, which is the basis of life.”(SGM) Secretary-General Tan Leng
introduced SGM’s commitment
to support the government in
implementing its obligations
under the TPNW. He shared SGI
and SGM’s nuclear disarmament
initiatives, such as ideas in
SGI President Daisaku Ikeda’s
peace proposals, the exhibition“Everything You Treasure—For
a World Free From Nuclear
ONLINESGI Representative Hosts New Stop Killer Robots
Series on Digital Dehumanisation
The Digital Dehumanisation
Campaign (DDC) launched by the
Stop Killer Robots coalition (SKR)
of which SGI is a member, examines
killer robots through the lens ofdigital dehumanisation. It highlights
the human cost of machines
processing people as objects,
framing the issue in the context
of present-day reality rather thantreating it as an abstract, futuristic
problem.
Digital dehumanisation, as definedby SKR, is the process where
humans are reduced to data, whichis then used to make decisions
and/or take actions that affect ourlives. This process deprives peopleof dignity, demeans individuals’
humanity and removes or replaces
human involvement or responsibility
through automated decision making
in technology.
Launched on 7 December 2022,
SKR’s Digital Dehumanisation

Stop Killer Robots

traditions, including Christianity,
Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism. The
statement urged the delegations
at the Review Conference to heed
the voices of hibakusha (survivorsof the atomic bombings ofHiroshima and Nagasaki) and otheraffected communities. It imploreddelegations to commit to concrete
actions to prevent any possibility ofescalation toward a nuclear war; tofulfill commitments and obligations
for nuclear disarmament under
Article VI of the NPT; and to support
other international instrumentsthat complement such obligations,
including the TPNW and theComprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

15

Hayley Ramsay-Jones of SGI interviewing
Dr. Catherine Connolly

Campaign aims to increase publicawareness of these threats. Slated
to run for six to eight months, theDDC features six pieces of factbased video content to educate
the public as well as lobbyists andlawmakers. Hayley Ramsay-Jones of
SGI is the host in all six videos.

The first output in this series
is an explainer report, titled“Autonomous Weapons and Digital
Dehumanisation,” which describes
digital dehumanisation as it
relates to killer robots. In the firstvideo, Ramsay-Jones interviews
Dr. Catherine Connolly, the SKR
Automated Decision Research
Manager, who authored the report.
Videos two and three were releasedin early January 2023. The second

video features an interview withstreet artist YAYA (known as the“Street Autist”), whose comic
strip 1001 Gossip Grove exploredthe erosion of privacy within
the home. The third shows aninterview with Matthew Guariglia,
Policy Analyst and historian at theElectronic Frontier Foundation, who
authored the article “Robots in theAge of Digital Surveillance, Digital
Surveillance in the Age of Robots.”17© Seikyo Shimbun

SGI Annual Report 2022

G E R M A N Y, J A PA N , K A Z A K H S TA N , M E X I C O & S PA I N“Everything You Treasure” Exhibition Showings
Around the World“Everything You Treasure—For a
World Free From Nuclear Weapons,”
an exhibition jointly created by SGI
and the International Campaign toAbolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN),
was shown at various locations
around the world in 2022, including
Japan, Spain, Germany, Mexico andKazakhstan. Launched in 2012, it
examines the nuclear weapons issue
from 12 perspectives, including
gender, health and environmental
impact, and it promotes ways
individuals can join the effort toabolish nuclear weapons.
From 30 March to 7 April 2022, theexhibition ran at the University of La
Salle in Madrid, Spain, in conjunction
with an interfaith symposium
organized by the university’s
Institute for Studies of Religions in
the Contemporary World (IERMA).
The symposium explored the roleof religions toward realizing the

Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), motivated by the convictionthat the world’s diverse religious
traditions have a central role toplay in building more ethical andjust societies. Representativesof Catholicism, Protestantism,
Judaism, Islam and Buddhism
participated in the interfaith event,which concluded with poetry andmusic performed by members ofSoka Gakkai Spain. Carlos Esteban
Garcés, Director of IERMA,
commented that the exhibition’s
message promoting world peaceand nuclear abolition was timely andsignificant.
The exhibition was also shown at
the University of Guanajuato in
Mexico from 8 to 23 September
2022. Dr. José Maldonado Salas,
General Coordinator of Academic
Development at the university,
delivered welcoming remarks at theOpening ceremony of the “Everything You Treasure” exhibition in Astana,
Kazakhstan

opening ceremony. On 8 September,
Soka Gakkai Mexico also organized
an online seminar on peace andnuclear disarmament.
From 16–30 September 2022, SGI
and the Center for International
Security and Policy co-organizeda showing of the “Everything You
Treasure” exhibition in Astana,
Kazakhstan. Deputy Director of
the Department for International
Security of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Arman Baisuanov delivered
welcoming remarks at the opening

ceremony, stressing the timelinessand importance of raising awarenesson nuclear weapons. Anotherspeaker, Bolatbek Baltabek, was asecond generation victim of nuclear
testing who lives in the village ofSarzhal near the Semipalatinsk Test
Site. He shared that people in thearea continue to suffer despite thetest site’s closure 30 years ago—afact that reinforced the importanceof continued nuclear disarmamentwork.

SGI Annual Report 2022

19

BR A ZIL & TOGO

Sustainability &Climate Change

Reforestation in Amazon and Togo
In 2022, the Soka Amazon Instituteon the outskirts of Manaus, Brazil,
continued to develop its “Life
Memorial” project, where trees areplanted in honor of each Brazilian
victim of COVID-19, in cooperation
with other organizations. In April
2022, eight campuses of the Federal
University of Rondônia planted trees
as part of this project. Overall, morethan 150,000 trees will be planted
over a four-year period in the
Amazon region.

gender equality and help tackle
the climate crisis. Agroforestry
is also promoted, whereby the
women plant a mixture of trees andcommodity crops.

In February 2022, the Soka Amazon
Institute joined the Amazonas Hub of
the UN Global Compact, a networkof companies advancing the SDGs.
In this capacity, the Institutecooperates with businesses andother institutions to promotesustainable development inAmazonas State.

In Togo, West Africa, a women’sforestry program, supported by
the Soka Gakkai in Japan andthe International Tropical Timber
Organization (ITTO), has been
underway since September 2020.
The program aims to restore forest
landscape and improve the living
standards of local women andtheir families in order to promote© Seikyo Shimbun

Also in 2022, the Soka Amazon
Institute co-sponsored seminars on
digitization and sustainability, on how
the Amazon rainforest regulates theglobal climate and creating paths towater security in the Amazon. The
latter was the topic of the seventh
Seminar on the Waters of the
Amazon.

The main implementing partnerin this project is the African
Women’s Network for Community
Management of Forests (REFACOF),
which has a record of empowering
women and reforestation in 20
countries in Africa. REFACOF
has provided women living
in marginalized areas in theprefectures of Lacs and Blitta withskills in seedling production andforest management according tolocal needs. Training sessions include
exchanges of experience among theparticipants. By the end of 2022,
more than 150 women had received
training and restored more than 35
hectares of forest, producing a totalof 48,000 seedlings.

Women’s forestry program in Togo,
West Africa
chutipon pattanatitinon /Unsplash

SGI Annual Report 2022
B O N N , G E R M A N Y & S H A R M E L- S H E I K , E G Y P T

SGI Participates in Bonn Climate Change
Conference and COP27
From 6–16 June 2022, Alexandra
Goossens-Ishii of SGI attended thefifty-sixth meeting of the Subsidiary
Bodies (SB56) of the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change.
As part of the Working Groupon Human Rights and Climate
Change, as well as ECOS (Education,
Communication and Outreach
Stakeholders Community), shefollowed issues relating to public
participation and Action for Climate
Empowerment (ACE), and advocatedto include activities that promoterights-based implementation of
the Paris Agreement to the ACE
Action Plan adopted at COP27.
Goossens-Ishii was invited to speak
and to facilitate two side events

related to ACE. As part of a group offaith-based organizations, including
Bread for the World, The LutheranWorld Federation, ACT Alliance andBrahma Kumaris, she co-organized
and facilitated a side event on the
Global Goal on Adaptation thathighlighted perspectives fromvulnerable communities.
From 6–19 November 2022, SGI
representatives participated in
the twenty-seventh meeting of theConference of the Parties (COP27)of the United Nations Climate
Change Conference, held in Sharmel-Sheikh, Egypt. At COP27, SGI
promoted human rights, youth
participation, youth empowerment

and reforestation, while also
amplifying faith leaders’ calls forclimate justice.
As part of the Interfaith Liaison
Committee (ILC), SGI co-organized
an informal interfaith gathering in thespirit of Talanoa Dialogue on the firstday of COP27, bringing together
over 100 participants. This event
led to a Talanoa Dialogue Call, which
ILC representatives, including
SGI, presented to Ovais Sarmad,
UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) Deputy
Executive Secretary.
Lucy Plummer of SGI-UK led aside event on 15 November coorganized with the Catholic
Youth Network for Environmental
Sustainability in Africa (CYNESA)
that modeled genuine participationand showcased the voices of faithbased youth. These young activists,
most from the Global South, arespeaking out about climate-related
suffering and leading action by faithgroups. David N. Munene of CYNESA
stressed that young people of faithcan contribute most when they act
in solidarity with others, and otherparticipants emphasized that theworld needs the youth’s idealism andpositive vision.
Additionally, while at COP27,
SGI engaged in dialogues thatbridged climate and biodiversity
issues ahead of the Biodiversity
COP15 meeting. Together with
the International Tropical Timber
Organization (ITTO) and the Korea
Forest Service, SGI cosponsoreda workshop on REDD+, a UN
framework that aims to reduce

Participants at COP27 celebrate the adoption of the new Action Plan
after ACE negotiations closed

21

The side event on “Global Interfaith Youth
Action on Climate Change:
Gather, Discuss, Empower and Act”

emissions caused by deforestation.
Cécile Ndjebet of REFACOF,
the local partner in a joint Soka
Gakkai and ITTO project that
supports reforestation efforts
by rural women in Togo, spoke at
the workshop and highlighted the
crucial role that women are playing
in African conservation efforts at thegrassroots level.
On 14 November 2022, Nobuyuki
Asai, Executive Director of the Soka
Gakkai Peace Committee, joined
a panel at the Japan Pavilion on theneed to accelerate action toward
net zero. Members of the Japan
Climate Initiative (JCI), a coalitionof Japanese non-state actors,
shared their efforts to achieve the
1.5°C target and emphasized theimportance of climate justice.
Examining COP27’s negotiations
from a human rights and climate
justice perspective, Goossens-Ishii

SGI Annual Report 2022
JA PA N

Soka Gakkai Newspaper in Japan JoinsFirst Country-Level UN Climate Action Campaign

Nobuyuki Asai of SGI (right) speaking at
the event organized by the JCILONDON, UK

Workshop on Youth Participation and Climate
Advocacy Held at UK Local Conference of Youthin Advance of COP27 in Egypt
Lucy Plummer of SGI-UK led aworkshop on youth participationand communication skills related
to climate action at the UK’s
Local Conference of Youth (LCOY
UK 2022), which was held at the
University of Manchester on 22
October 2022.
Local Conferences of Youth (LCOYs)
aim to give young people a voicein the global response to climatechange. The LCOY UK 2022 wasentirely planned and organizedby young people, and keynote
speeches were delivered by two
youth activists, Mahnoor Kamran, an
18-year-old Pakistani climate justiceadvocate, and Jodie Bailey-Ho, an
18-year-old climate campaigner
from Essex.

Plummer based the workshop on
her research into young people’s
experiences at the COPs as wellas her personal experience asa young participant at COP26.
Approximately 25 young people
joined the workshop, including
activists from across the UK andother countries, where they roleplayed situations that happened
at an intergenerational roundtablediscussion at COP26. Several otherworkshops were held on topics suchas why the climate crisis is a justicebased issue, transforming ecoanxiety into eco-action, how climatechange and health intersect, naturebased solutions, why biodiversity is
so important and fast fashion.

On 17 June 2022, the Soka Gakkai’s
newspaper in Japan, the Seikyo
Shimbun, joined 107 other Japanese
media companies and the United
Nations Information Centre,
Tokyo, to launch “Promise of 1.5°C.
Act now to stop global warming,”
the first country-led campaign bymembers of the UN SDG Media
Compact. Media outlets involvedin this campaign have committed
to promoting action that will help
limit the global temperature rise
to 1.5°C and encourage individuals
and organizations to adopt moresustainable and environmentallyconscious practices.
Since the campaign’s launch,
the Seikyo Shimbun, with a daily
circulation of 5.5 million, haspublished a variety of articles toraise awareness about climatechange. The 5 July 2022 issue
featured a Soka Gakkai member
who launched a business that
produces biodiesel fuel from waste
oil and helped set up a non-profit
organization to tackle marine
litter in western Japan’s TsushimaIsland. The 10 August 2022
issue published an interview with
Massimo Bottura, chef and ownerof three-star Michelin restaurant
Osteria Francescana in Modena,
Italy. Bottura introduced hisorganization “Food for Soul,” whichtackles food waste and poverty byrunning cafeterias that use surplus
ingredients to cook nutritious meals
and serve them to socioeconomicallyvulnerable people.

© Seikyo Shimbun© Seikyo Shimbun

commented that, while much work
remains to be done to center theroot causes of climate change andgenuinely engage on a just transition
from fossil fuels, it was encouraging
to see the establishment of a Loss
and Damage Fund. This newly
created fund incorporates thehuman right to a clean, healthy andsustainable environment in the COP
Decision, and integrates humanrights into the newly adopted Action
for Climate Empowerment (ACE)
Action Plan.

23

The 5 July 2022 SDGs article about tackling marine litter

SGI Annual Report 2022
defenders. From an interfaithperspective, SGI joined the Faiths
at COP15 coalition, which gatheredfaith groups spanning almost every
major faith tradition. For the firsttime in the context of a Biodiversity
COP, faith communities were able
to have their voices and policy
recommendations heard by UN
Convention on Biological Diversity
Executive Secretary Elizabeth
Mrema and many negotiators.
Alexandra Goossens-Ishii of SGI
supported the policy engagementof the Faiths at COP15 coalition andcontributed to several side events.

25

Artwork created by youth from the
Global Youth Biodiversity Network

INDIA
Alexandra Goossens-Ishii of SGI (right) speaking on a panel discussion
organized by the Parliament of the World Religions on Human Rights
and the Rights of Nature

MONTREAL, CANADASGI Advocates for a Strong Global Biodiversity
Framework at COP15
From 3–19 December 2022, SGI
participated in the final round ofnegotiations of the fifth Open-ended
Working Group and the fifteenth
Conference of the Parties (COP15)of the Convention on Biological
Diversity, which gathered inMontreal, Canada. COP15 adopted
the historic Kunming-Montreal Global
Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
After four years of intense
negotiations, the Chinesepresidency of COP15 succeeded inbridging often disparate positions in
the Kunming-Montreal GBF, setting

a goal to live in harmony with natureby 2050. To do so, nations adopted
four goals and 23 targets under
the GBF to complete by 2030 inorder to “take urgent action to halt
and reverse biodiversity loss to put
nature on a path to recovery for the
benefit of people and planet…”
SGI advocated for the GBF tofollow a human rights-based
approach, including by recognizing
Indigenous Peoples’ rights over theirlands and territories, the right toaccess justice and the protectionof environmental human rights

Extensive Efforts from BSG to Promote
the SDGs in India
In July 2021, the Soka Gakkaiorganization in India known as Bharat
Soka Gakkai (BSG) introduced
its BSG for SDG campaign toadvocate for and achieve theSustainable Development Goals(SDGs) under the banner “Towards
2030: Achieving SDGs ThroughSustainable Human Behavior.”
Since early 2021, BSG has toured
a virtual exhibition titled “Seeds ofHope and Action: Making the SDGs
a Reality” to various schools andcolleges in India. The exhibition aims
to reach young people to raise theirawareness about sustainability,
encourage them to overcome
feelings of powerlessness andhighlight the fact that individuals caninitiate positive change.

Since the start of 2022, BSG has
been working to formally launch
SDG Clubs at educational institutes,
which raise SDG leaders among
youth. Students in SDG Clubsare encouraged to meet monthly
to discuss various aspects ofsustainability and share innovative
actions that they can implement intheir daily lives. BSG provides themwith materials on the SDGs.
In various forums, BSG members
share stories and ideas during what
is referred to as “SDG Time.”
Coordinating the efforts of BSG
members toward achieving theSDGs are SDG Ambassadors. They
consist of around 300 individuals
who help spread SDG awarenessand serve as primary contacts forany questions regarding the SDGs.

SGI Annual Report 2022
Monthly SDG meetings are hosted
by BSG at the national level to sharemembers’ experiences of promoting
the SDGs in their communities
and workplaces, and to hold panel
discussions on applying the SDGs
in daily life together with experts invarious fields.
BSG’s bimonthly online newsletter
Sustainable examines a specifictheme in each of the 17 SDG goals.
It focuses on spreading awarenessusing the “learn, reflect, empower”
formula outlined in SGI’s Educationfor Sustainable Development Proposal
authored by Daisaku Ikeda, thepresident of SGI. The “Learn”
section of the newsletter introduces
the various SDGs in an easy-tograsp manner. The “Reflect” section
focuses on studying the SGI’s peace
proposals and self-reflection on

BANGKOK , THAIL AND & ONLINE

how to personally contribute toactualizing the SDGs. Lastly, the“Empower” section shares BSG
members’ stories on contributing to
implementing the SDGs. Articles oneach of the 17 goals are also featured
in BSG’s monthly organizational
publication Value Creation, with areadership of nearly 50,000.

SGI Participates in the Asia-Pacific Forum on
Sustainable Development
From 28–31 March 2022, SGI
participated in the 9th AsiaPacific Forum on Sustainable
Development (APFSD), which
served as a regional meeting toprepare for the High-level Political
Forum on Sustainable Development(HLPF) held in July 2022. The Asia
Pacific Faith-Based Coalition for
Sustainable Development (APFC),
which brings together ACT Alliance,
Arigatou International, Islamic
Relief Worldwide, Soka Gakkai
International and World VisionInternational, has participated in
APFSD since its official launch in
2018.

Digital tools such as shorteducational videos on the SDGs
are available on the BSG YouTube
channel and social media pages. In
August 2022, BSG launched the“BSG for SDG” mobile app andwebsite.
BSG’s work has earned somerecognitions, including the MahatmaAward for Social Good and Impact
and the Sustainability Innovation
Award 2022 from the Bharathidasan
Institute of Management.

BSG

APFC organized an official virtualside event to APFSD that took
place on 30 March. “Building Back
Better in the Time of Covid-19:
Interventions from Faith Actors”
showcased the work of faith actors
in achieving the SDGs. Alwynn Javierof ACT Alliance, the current APFC
Convenor, gave an overview of faith
actors implementing the SDGs,
followed by the representatives ofEnvisions Institute of Development(EID) and EcoSikh presenting theirprojects and findings.

“Seeds of Hope & Action” exhibition
held at a public school in New Delhi

27

Rudrajit Das, Communication for
Development Chief at UNICEF
Nepal, shared his experience
working with faith-based partners
and emphasized the importanceof their roles and contributions.
In closing, Hiro Sakurai of SGI, aformer convenor of APFC, noted

APFC’s commitment to facilitating
further collaboration among faith
actors and with other partners on
shared goals.
From 19–21 March 2022, over 600
people under age 30 attended the
APFSD Youth Forum, which was held
online and in person in Bangkok,
Thailand. Participants, including SGI
youth representatives, were fromover 33 countries across Asia andthe Pacific region.
Each day of the three-day forum
concluded with a dialogue session
between participants in country
and sub-regional groups. Harumi
Endo of SGI and Munkh-Erdene
Davaajav of YouthLEAD Mongolia
co-moderated the discussion in theEast, Northeast Asia and Central
Asia subregional group whereapproximately 25 young people
from China, including the Hong Kongand Macau Special Administrative
Regions, Japan, Georgia, Mongolia
and Tajikistan discussed challenges
that they and their peers face, suchas mental health issues and lack ofaccess to quality education, and they
proposed recommendations forbetter solutions.
Issues and recommendations voiced
throughout the event were compiled
into a comprehensive document,“APFSD Youth Call to Action 2022,”
which youth delegates presented
at the APFSD and ECOSOC Youth
Forum. The Youth Call to Action was
also presented at HLPF in July.

SGI Annual Report 2022

29

NANTES, FRANCE

Human Rights
Education

Human Rights Exhibitions and Symposium Held inFrance

The first, “Transforming Lives: The
Power of Human Rights Education,”
is a traveling exhibition created in2017 by SGI, the NGO WG on HREL
and HRE2020, with the supportof OHCHR. It illustrates the vitalrole of human rights education inpromoting dignity, equality andpeace. The exhibition was firstshown in France in 2019 at the
UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
The second exhibition, “Just
Humans,” was created by Magnum
Photos and Amnesty International.
Together they joined forces to lookback on 60 years of mobilization forhuman rights, through a selection ofimages that illustrate the diversityof actions carried out by Amnesty
throughout that time.

Rene Bernal /Unsplash

In addition, a symposium of four

roundtable discussions entitled“Human Rights – for, with and byyouth” was held on 3 December
2022. The first discussion exploredthe role of human rights education,
particularly aimed at making young
people aware of their rights. The
second discussion examined ways
different aspects of society, suchas the economy, culture and sport,
can serve the needs of humanbeings. The third discussed actionneeded against disinformation andtoxic speech. The fourth roundtable
explored how building self-esteem
can contribute to a change in ourenvironment.
Representing SGI and the NGO WG
on HREL, Elisa Gazzotti spoke at thefirst roundtable on the importanceof human rights education for, withand by youth. She also pointed tothe essential role that civil society
plays in driving momentum for UN
initiatives, particularly the fourthphase of the UN World Programmefor Human Rights Education, which
is focused on youth.

Soka Cultural Association of France

From 3–11 December 2022,
Amnesty International and the
Soka Cultural Association of France
worked together to show two
exhibitions on human rights at the
Espace Beaulieu in Nantes, France.

SGI Annual Report 2022

31

ONLINE

Webinar Series Promotes Human Rights Education
through the Stories of Youth
In 2022, SGI, OHCHR and Amnesty
International convened the second
through seventh editions of theconversation series, “Human
Rights Education for, with and byyouth: A conversation with young
people around the world.” These
conversations featured young
human rights educators fromvarious parts of the world, eachsession featuring a video of theirstory, followed by a conversation
with the youth. Topics covered in theseries in 2022 included promoting
gender equality, standing up for girls’
rights, rethinking masculinity, engaging
children and youth as change makers,
and promoting the rights of persons
with disabilities.
One of the webinars was convened
on 17 August, titled “Fighting

Participants in the “Fighting
Human Trafficking Through
Human Rights Education” webinar

Human Trafficking Through Human
Rights Education.” The event wasmoderated by Flore Ghetti, who
represents SGI on the Youth
Advisory Board for the joint project.
Ghetti introduced the topic of
the webinar by saying, “Human
trafficking, also called trafficking inpersons, has no place in our world.
… With an estimated 24.9 million
victims worldwide at any given time,
human traffickers prey on adults andchildren of all ages, backgrounds
and nationalities, exploiting themfor their own profit. This is where
the role of human rights education
prevails.”
Aiki Matsukura, a young Japanesehuman rights educator, joined theevent for a video screening showing
her advocacy work. Matsukura

Aiki Matsukura, trafficking expert and speaker in the 17 August webinar

worked for nearly eight years for an
organization working to support thevictims of sex trafficking in Japan.
After the video, she noted that somein the audience might be surprised
to hear that human trafficking isa serious issue in Japan, as it isconsidered one of the world’s safest
countries. However, Matsukura
pointed out, Japan is known in theinternational community to benotorious for human trafficking,which she attributes to the country’s
large sex industry, as well as
contributing socio-cultural factors
such as the lack of sex education,commodification of young girls andlegal loopholes.

Matsukura went on to share her
inspiring journey in fighting humantrafficking through human rights
education. She shared powerfulaccounts of how outreach andeducation has helped victims of
trafficking and sexual exploitation
to realize that they have total
autonomy over their bodies.
“It is only through learning theimportance of and having theexperience of being respected that
one can respect others’ rights.
Human rights education with afocus on sex education raises thesense of self-esteem of individuals,”
Matsukura said.

SGI Annual Report 2022

33

T U R I N , I TA LY

Forum Addresses Young People, Human Rights
Education and Citizenship in Europe
A conference took place in Turin,
Italy, from 11–13 April 2022 titled,“The Art of Learning, Equality, Dignity,
Democracy: Forum on the present
and future of citizenship and humanrights education in Europe with young
people.” The Council of Europe
Education and Youth sectors, theItalian Department for Youth Policy
and the Universal Civic Service coorganized the event, in cooperation
with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and International Cooperation,
Amnesty International, the City ofTurin, the National Youth Council of
Italy and the European Youth Forum.
Elisa Gazzotti, SGI representativeand Chair of the NGO Working
Group on Human Rights Educationand Learning (NGO WG on HREL),
participated in the conference,
which drew about 300 humanrights educators, advocates, andrepresentatives of civil society,governments and internationalorganizations.

As part of the conference, the UN
Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR) organizeda workshop on 12 April titled“Good Practices in Human Rights
Education: Global and National
Perspectives.” Gazzotti was invited
to present the work of the NGO
WG on HREL during this workshop,where she shared about the group’s
purpose, as well as its past activities
around advocacy on human rights
education for young people at the
UN Human Rights Council. Paulina
Tandiono of OHCHR also presented,
sharing the “Stories of Young Human
Rights Educators,” a multilingual,multimedia educational tool
jointly developed by SGI, Amnesty
International and OHCHR.

Participants highlighted theimportance of “retelling the storyof human rights in ways that areimportant to the local context”
and looking “for people [who] areinvisible in our work, and [to] teachand learn about the rights of thepeople.” A young Italian participant
shared, “Institutions listen to us—
young people—only when we act
with anger. But we should always belistened to.”ONLINE

Human Rights Day Event Discusses “Transforming
Education Through Human Rights”
On 8 December 2022, as part ofthe celebration for Human Rights
Day, UNESCO, OHCHR and the
Office of the Secretary-General’s
Envoy on Youth co-organized an
online event, titled “Transforming
Education Through Human Rights,”
in partnership with Amnesty
International and SGI. The event
aimed to enhance dialogue among
young people and policymakers on
how human rights education foryouth can be used to implement theYouth Declaration on Transforming
Education launched during theTransforming Education Summit
2022, as well as on the parametersof the evolving right to education.
Attended by more than 180 people,
the event was opened by OHCHR’s
Deputy High Commissioner Nada

Elisa Gazzotti of SGI presenting at the
12 April workshop

Al-Nashif, UNESCO’s Assistant
Director-General for Education
Stefania Giannini, the SecretaryGeneral’s Envoy on Youth Jayathma
Wickramanayake, and Ronelle
King, a Young Leader for the SDGs.
Special Rapporteur on the Right
to Education Farida Shaheedparticipated in an interactive
dialogue to frame the issue.
Subsequently, participants joined
three parallel sessions that delved
deeper into three different themes.
Flore Ghetti, who represents SGI
on the Youth Advisory Board forthe joint human rights education
project with OHCHR and Amnesty
International, co-facilitated a parallelsession titled ‘‘Human Rights
Education and Youth Declaration.”SGI Annual Report 2022
U N O F F I C E AT G E N E VA , S W I T Z E R L A N D

Advocacy at the Fifty-First Session of the Human
Rights Council
During the fifty-first session of the
Human Rights Council (HRC), Elisa
Gazzotti of SGI undertook several
activities as Chair of the NGO WG
on HREL. Gazzotti participated in a
meeting with the newly appointed
Special Rapporteur on the Right
to Education, Farida Shaheed;
moderated a side event on youth
and human rights education(HRE); met the Member Statesof the Platform on Human Rights
Education and Training (Brazil, Costa
Rica, Italy, Morocco, the Philippines,
Senegal, Slovenia and Thailand); andparticipated in informal meetings ondrafting the Resolution.
On 21 September 2022, Gazzottidelivered an oral statement onbehalf of the NGO WG on HREL,
which advocated for better
implementation of HRE with, for andby young people.

Gazzotti also moderated a side
event on 22 September 2022,
titled “Fourth Phase of the World
Programme for Human Rights
Education: Looking at the next
two years: Gaps & Achievements.”
The hybrid event included a panel
discussion organized by themembers of the Platform on Human
Rights Education and Training and
the NGO WG on HREL, with thesupport of OHCHR.
Ambassador Shara Duncan, Deputy
Representative of the UN Mission of
Costa Rica, gave opening remarks
before a youth-led panel. Paulina
Tandiono, OHCHR Associate Human
Rights Officer, shared some of the
key points from the midterm reportpresented at the fifty-first session of
the HRC. Hamdi Addow, Associate
Program Specialist, UNESCO, thendiscussed the Future of Education
Initiative Report from an HRE
perspective.
After the UN perspective, threeother young human rights educators
and advocates shared theirwork: Jean Linis-Dinco, leading ateam from the Philippines; Irfaan
Mangera, subject of the film “Young
People Engaging in Human Rights
Education: A Story from South
Africa;” and Lais Caputo of theInstituto de Desenvolvimento en
Derechos Humanos (IDDH) in Brazil.
Closing remarks were made by
Ambassador Anita Pipan, Permanent
Representative of Slovenia.

Irfaan Mangera (on screen), shares
about his work in South Africa at the
22 September side event

Peace

35

SGI Annual Report 2022
JORDAN

Soka Gakkai and Musicians Without Borders’ Joint
Program in Jordan Completes Its Second Year
Supported by Soka Gakkai and run
by Musicians Without Borders, theAl-Musiqa Tajm’ana: “Music Brings
Us Together” program in Jordan has
successfully completed its second
year with the support of Caritas
Jordan as the primary local partner.
This three-year program, launched
in January 2021, aims to create a
network of musicians, social workers
and teachers who are equippedwith the skills to use music as a tool
for strengthening social inclusion,
stimulating creative development
and bringing hope and joy to children
in underserved refugee and hostcommunities.

graduated music students, musicteachers and youth workers totake part in three training cycles,
each accommodated to the groups’
specific needs. Training focused ontrauma awareness, self-care andnon-violent communication, aiming
to contribute to alleviating stressamong children and strengthening
their ability to overcome difficulties.
It focused on didactic, pedagogicaland leadership skills; group workwith vulnerable children; teamwork;and conflict resolution. Musicians
and community leaders gained tools
and techniques to create spaces ofsafety, connection and creativity.

Fabienne van Eck, Regional Program
Manager for the Middle East forMusicians Without Borders (MWB),
and Jordanian musician Tareq Jundi
lead the programs.

Each trainee then implemented
several sessions with children orother vulnerable groups, such as
women in a shelter for victims ofviolence. Jundi noted how impressed
he was that the program’s training
fully focused on meeting the needsof the children, rather than on
technical skill. “One aspect was
how to make the child improvise
from day one, to feel that he is in asafe environment and to start toimprovise and to express.”

In the first year, the projectgathered musicians, recently

In its second year, the project
organized three cycles of Music
Leadership Training and one cycle ofMusic as Therapy training in Amman
with 39 trainees. Participants in theMusic as Therapy training, which
was implemented in cooperation
with Music as Therapy International,
a nonprofit based in the UnitedChildren participating in the “Music
Brings Us Together” program

37

Kingdom, developed their skills
to work with children with special
needs.
In both training courses, trainees
had opportunities for practicalapplication: the trainees from theMusic Leadership Training gave 145
music workshops attended by 598
children with diverse backgrounds
and 64 music students; thosetrained in Music as Therapy gave
48 sessions attended by 25 young
children with special needs. By
Including trainees from various
areas, the program was able toreach more children in areas withlittle access to music education.

Children participating in the “Music
Brings Us Together” program

ONLINE

SGI and Ikeda Center Host Panel Discussion
Commemorating Fortieth SGI Peace Proposal
Since 1983, SGI President Daisaku
Ikeda has authored peace proposals
that integrate philosophicalreflections with concrete, civicoriented action steps to point a
way forward for those seeking tocreate the global culture of peace.
To celebrate the 2022 publicationof the fortieth proposal, SGI
hosted an online panel discussion incollaboration with the Ikeda Center
for Peace, Learning and Dialogue,
which was held on UN Day, 24
October 2022. Titled “The Peace
Proposals at 40: Creating Vibrant
Hope and Advancing the Culture ofPeace,” the webinar was attended bynearly 400 people representing 36
countries.

SGI Annual Report 2022
Moderated by Hayley Ramsay-Jonesand Ivy Koek of the SGI Office for
UN Affairs, the event featured four
panelists with unique expertise inglobal peacebuilding: Alice Ferrario,
Education and Youth Coordinator at
Senzatomica; Dr. Namrata Sharma,
faculty at State University of New
York and author of Value-Creating
Global Citizenship Education for
Sustainable Development; Paulina
Tandiono, Associate Human Rights
Officer at the Office of the HighCommissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR); and Dr. Toh Swee-Hin,Professor Emeritus at the Universityof Alberta and winner of the 2000
UNESCO Prize for Peace Education.
The program opened with a video
music performance by Jordaniancomposer and oud virtuoso Tareq
Jundi.
In his keynote speech, Ambassador
Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former
Under-Secretary-General andHigh Representative of the UN andfounder of the Global Movement
for the Culture of Peace, sharedthat the proposals offer four key
areas of focus, each contributing
to the overall mission of building
the culture of peace. They are:the centrality of pursuing peace
through the nonviolent methodof dialogue; the need to empower
ordinary people, with an emphasison the emergence of women as“active agents in creating peace;” acommitment to young people as theshapers of the future; and a deep
recognition that “the hard power ofmilitary force never produces realstability.”
Ferrario described the five key
actions of Senzatomica, a youthled campaign to spread awarenessabout nuclear weapons andempower people to create a society
free from them, to promote a senseof hope and possibility for nuclear

Graphic summarizing the main themes of the peace proposal discussion created byAdriana Contreras of On the Right Mind

disarmament among ordinary
people. Sharma was particularly
inspired by SGI’s 2014 proposal,
which drew a direct line from“individual empowerment to boldcollective actions,” which is the key
for both sustainable development
and global citizenship. Tandionoemphasized that the work of humanrights is grounded in “strengthening
a sense of common values andshared humanity.” Toh said it iswise to always take a “holistic andmultidimensional” approach to39

peacebuilding—something that hesees as the core characteristic of
the peace proposals.
The webinar concluded by inviting
the virtual audience to respond to
the question of how to create hope.
Ramsay-Jones closed the event by
sharing that hope is very much whatsociety needs at this moment andis the most courageous act we cangive ourselves, our communities andhumanity at large.

ONLINE

Faith-Based Organizations Come Together to
Discuss Ending Racism in International Affairs
SGI joined seven other faith-based
partners, including the UN Allianceof Civilizations (UNAOC), the UN
Office on Genocide Prevention andthe Responsibility to Protect and the
UN Population Fund (UNFPA), to coorganize the 8th Annual Symposiumon the Role of Religion and Faith-Based
Organizations in International Affairs,
held on 25 January 2022. The theme
was “Mobilizing Moral Influence andGovernance to End the Systemic
Injustices of Racism, the legacyof Colonialism and Slavery.” Thesymposium was held online for thesecond year. Ivy Koek of SGI waspart of the organizing team.
Hayley Ramsay-Jones of SGI spoke
about SGI’s intersectional approachto disarmament on a panel about“deepening understanding of how
pernicious and all-encompassing
racism and the legacy of colonialism
and slavery remain today.” She

Hayley Ramsay-Jones of SGI speaking
about SGI’s intersectional approach todisarmamentshared how SGI’s beliefs align withthis approach, stating: “Buddhism isconcerned with equality, justice andhuman security. We believe that at
the heart of all forms of oppressionis the radical negation of others—of
their humanity, their dignity andtheir equal right to happiness andlife.” The event was attended by aglobal audience of over 400.

SGI Annual Report 2022

41

AUCKL AND, NEW ZEAL AND

Peace Symposium Held in Aotearoa, New Zealand

Youth panelists speak on “Envisioning Peace in a Time of Uncertainity”

Following this panel, Kevin Clements,
Founding Director of the National
Centre for Peace and Conflict
Studies and Director of the Toda
Peace Institute, gave a lecture on“Post-Ukraine Challenges to the
Future of Nuclear Disarmament,”
which was followed by a Q&A
session. Chaired by Dr. Jenny
Te-Paa Daniel, Interim Directorof NCPCS, the second panel
discussion focused more specificallyon peace in New Zealand and thePacific region. Panelists were
Professor Malakai Koloamatangiof the Ministry for Pacific Peoples;
Anahera Gildea (Ngāti Tukorehe),
SGINZ member and PhD Candidatein the International Institute ofModern Letters at Te Herenga Waka
(Victoria University of Wellington);and Dr. SungYong Lee of NCPCS.

© Seikyo Shimbun

The first panel discussion waschaired by Dr. Andrew Codling,
Former Head of the Vice
Chancellor’s Office of AUT andfeatured three young peace
activists: Haris Murtaza, Co-Chairof the National Islamic Youth
Association, Ashlyn Baines, Youth
Programmes Coordinator of
The Peace Foundation and Julia
Guthrey, Youth Representative of
SGINZ. Agreeing that grassroots
activities for peace affect the world
at large, Guthrey stated that mutual
understanding and support areimportant in times of uncertainty,

drawing on themes from the 2022
SGI peace proposal.

SGI participates in the Bahrain Dialogue Forum

MANAMA, BAHRAIN

Bahrain Dialogue Forum Brings Together Diverse
Faith Perspectives
From 3–4 November 2022, theBahrain Dialogue Forum titled “Eastand West for Human Coexistence”
hosted more than 700 participants,
including religious leaders fromaround the world, to exchange viewson global issues. The forum wasco-organized by the Muslim Councilof Elders, the Supreme Council for
Islamic Affairs in the Kingdom of
Bahrain and the King Hamad Global
Centre for Peaceful Coexistence andheld at the Isa Cultural Center andthe Al-Sakhir Palace in Bahrain.
© Seikyo Shimbun

On 6 August 2022, SGI New
Zealand (SGINZ) and Te Ao o teRongomaraeroa, the National
Centre for Peace and Conflict
Studies (NCPCS) at the University ofOtago, co-hosted a Peace Symposium
at Auckland University of Technology(AUT) on the theme of “Envisioning
Peace in a Time of Uncertainty.”

At the inaugural forum, Sheikh bin
Muhammad Al Khalifa, Chairmanof the Supreme Council for Islamic

Affairs, introduced Bahrain’s
initiatives toward peace andcoexistence, including the release of“The Kingdom of Bahrain Declaration
on Religious Tolerance” in 2017.
Three sessions were held, titled“Experiences of Promoting
Global Coexistence and Human
Fraternity,” “Peaceful Coexistence”
and “The Role of Religious Leadersand Scholars in Addressing
Contemporary Challenges: Climate
Change and Global Food Crisis,”
respectively. During the third
session, Hirotsugu Terasaki, Vice
President of Soka Gakkai, shared
Buddhist perspectives on emerging

SGI Annual Report 2022
crises, emphasizing the Buddhist
concepts of compassion andinterdependence. He also stressedthat humankind ought to do all
it can to return the blessings ofinterconnectedness and support
that it receives from all things
by caring for other creatures askindly as possible. Furthermore,
Terasaki shared his conviction thatSoka Gakkai and SGI’s activities
and exhibitions transmit hope inspite of a general atmospherearound the world. Young people, as
Wickramanayake stated, are saying,“There is no peace without equality
and justice, and no justice andequality without peace.”of powerlessness caused by
the complexity and scale of the
problems we face today.
At the closing ceremony, His Majesty
King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of
Bahrain, His Eminence Sheikh
Ahmed El-Tayeb the Grand Imamof Al-Azhar and His Holiness PopeFrancis spoke, demonstrating thespirit of religious co-existence.

A panel discussion in the TrusteeshipCouncil Chamber followed andincluded representatives frompermanent missions, UN agencies
and civil society. The panel’s chairand moderator was Ambassador

Soka Gakkai Joins World Interfaith Congress

Eleventh UN High-Level Forum on
the Culture of Peace

From 14–15 September 2022, Soka
Gakkai Vice President Hirotsugu
Terasaki participated in the seventh
Congress of Leaders of World andTraditional Religions in Astana,
Kazakhstan. President KassymJomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan
gave welcoming remarks, followed
by His Holiness Pope Francis;
Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh
Ahmed El-Tayeb; Metropolitan
Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairmanof the Department for External
Church Relations of the Moscow
Patriarchate; and Yitzhak Yosef,
Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel. UN
Secretary General H.E. António

Held in the General AssemblyHall, the Opening Remarks andPlenary Segment included some 50
statements from Member States,
Observers and UN entities. The
2022 theme was “The Cultureof Peace: Importance of justice,equality and inclusion for advancing
peacebuilding.” In his statement,
Secretary-General António
Guterres mentioned the New
Agenda for Peace proposed in his“Our Common Agenda” report,
which would better link peace,security and human rights. Other
speakers included Elizabeth Spehar,
Assistant Secretary-Generalfor Peacebuilding Support, andJayathma Wickramanayake, theUN Secretary-General’s Envoy on
Youth, who called on members of theaudience to listen to young people© Seikyo Shimbun

Movement for the Culture of Peace(GMCoP). As a founding memberof GMCoP, SGI has helped organize
these Forums for over 10 years.

On 6 September 2022, the HighLevel Forum on the Culture ofPeace was convened in person for
the first time in three years by the
President of the General Assembly,
in cooperation with the Global

Anwarul K. Chowdhury, founderof the GMCoP, former UnderSecretary-General and High
Representative of the United
Nations and Chair of the UN
General Assembly negotiations forthe Declaration and Programmeof Action on a Culture of Peace(1998–1999).

A S TA N A , K A Z A K H S TA N

U N H E ADQUARTERS , N E W YORK , U SA

SGI helped organize the High-Level
Forum on the Culture of Peace

43

Guterres participated virtually,
sending his remarks via a video
message.
During a plenary session, Terasaki
gave a speech based on the 2022
SGI peace proposal in which hestressed the need to build a society
where all can savor the joy of being
alive and stated the Soka Gakkai’s
determination to contribute tointerfaith solidarity. At the closing
ceremony, it was announced thatthe eighth Congress will convene in
2025 again in Kazakhstan’s capital,
Astana.

The seventh Congress of Leadersof World and Traditional Religions

SGI Annual Report 2022

45

ONLINE

Gender Equality &Women’s Empowerment

Women’s Leadership Event to Tackle Climate
Change and Disasters at CSW66
The sixty-sixth session of theCommission on the Status of
Women (CSW66) took placefrom 14–25 March 2022. The
session outcomes included
Agreed Conclusions on the priority
theme: addressing how reducing
the risks from climate change,
the environment and disasters
impacts gender equality and theempowerment of women and girls.

Shane Rounce /Unsplashh

The session also adopted its new
Methods of Work, last reviewed
in 2015. As Co-chair of the NGO
Committee on the Status of Women,
New York (NGO CSW/NY) Advocacy
and Research Group, Ivy Koek of SGI
spearheaded coordination for an
inclusive and open process to gather
civil society recommendations
for the Methods of Work, which
outlines the Commission’s work andhow its session is organized. The
updated Methods of Work included

an interactive youth dialogue, a new
addition to its program of work thatreceived broad support from NGOs
but was otherwise highly debatedduring the session.
During CSW66, SGI organizeda parallel event on “Women’s
Leadership to Tackle Climate
Change and Disasters.” Held on
16 March 2022, the event wasco-sponsored by the Disability
Rights Fund, the Disabilities Rights
Advocacy Fund and the Global
Initiative for Economic, Social andCultural Rights. In her welcome
remarks, Koek introduced the workof the Soka Gakkai Women’s Peace
Committee through a video in which
a woman recalled her experience of
relocating due to the Tohoku nuclear
plant accident. Her resilient spirit tomake friends in her new home andher wish to impart hope to others
through her dance performanceswas shared as an example ofleadership.

their perspectives from their various
national contexts, including Fiji,
Indonesia, Brazil and Uganda.

Subsequently, Fleur Newman,
Action Empowerment Unit Leadfor the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) andYumiko Tanaka, Senior Gender
Advisor of the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Vice
President of the Japan Women’s
Network for Disaster Risk Reduction
offered opening remarks. Newman
spoke about how much policies andaction around gender and climate
have changed in the last 10 years.
Tanaka mentioned that the Sendai
Framework addresses the need toinclude women and youth leadershipin disaster policies and decisionmaking.

The panelists discussed several
topics: the power of online climate
activism; the importance ofincorporating faith and spirituality
for people of the Pacific in climateinduced relocation projects;
the positive impact of feminist
movement collaborations andalliance building; the leadership ofwomen human rights defenders; andworking toward a more equitableworld by having women in all theirdiversity in leadership roles. Female
and feminist leadership, Newman
pointed out, is not gendered: “It is analternative choice to the existential
crisis … not business as usual,” which
opens new ways and new solutions
to our challenges.

A discussion followed, with four
climate and disaster risk reduction
experts and activists who offeredM E X I C O, PA N A M A & S PA I N

On 8 March 2022, Inés Vázquez
González of Soka Gakkai Spain
represented the Buddhist Union of
Spain at an interfaith symposium
on women, leadership and religion
in Madrid. The event was organizedby the Foundation for Pluralism
and Coexistence to commemorate
International Women’s Day. Six
women who hold positions ofleadership in their religious groups
reflected on the role of women in
their communities and the need toachieve equality between men andwomen.

© Fundación Pluralismo y Convivencia

Soka Gakkai of Spain, Panama and Mexico
Participate in Local Women’s Leadership and
Empowerment Events

The interfaith symposium in Madrid

47© Seikyo Shimbun

SGI Annual Report 2022

Soka Gakkai Mexico’s 11 March online gathering on women’s empowerment

All of the speakers—representing
Bahá’í, Buddhist, Evangelical,
Episcopal, Islamic, and Jewish
perspectives—emphasized theadvances made in female leadershipin the religious sphere, butultimately they agreed that religious
communities have not yet equallyprogressed in legitimizing women’svoices.
Also on 8 March, SGI Panama
members held a webinar on genderequality featuring three speakers.
Nair Castillo Infante, an emotional
wellness coach, presented on “Howto Fall in Love with Yourself,” followedby Maria Pia Bazzolo, a humanresources specialist, who spoke on“Empowered Women.” Lastly, Aldo
Cano Grajales of SGI highlighted
the role of men in achieving genderequality. Participants agreed thatwomen should have the freedom tochoose their roles at home and insociety, and that everything starts
with inner-motivated change.
On 11 March, Soka Gakkai Mexico(SGMex) hosted an online

gathering on the theme of women’s
empowerment in a century ofhumanism. Over 300 women in
Mexico and El Salvador joined theevent. Based on the SGI peace
proposals, the event identified
five characteristics of empowered
women: they engage in local issues;
have a global, ecological andfuturistic vision; are effective agentsof change; are promoters of humanrights; and take responsibility togenerate change.
Brenda Elena de la Rosa Díaz,
Academic Secretary of the Facultyof Psychology at the Benemérita
Universidad Autónoma de Puebla,
gave a keynote address on the
co-responsibility of women inparenting for a culture of peace.
In her closing remarks, SGMex
women’s leader María Eugenia Rojas
stressed the need to work together
to solve problems, eliminate genderinequality, strengthen youth
empowerment and foster respectfor diversity to rebuild trust insociety.

SGI Annual Report 2022

49

JA PA N

SGI Australia

Soka Gakkai Women’s Peace Committee Hosts
SDGs Forum on Children’s HappinessParticipants in the online event “Creating a Culture of Peace — Making a
Difference as Peacebuilders in Daily Life.”

AUSTR ALIA

SGI Australia Holds Online Event on Women’sPower to Promote Peace
On 26 June 2022, SGI Australiaorganized an online event
titled “Creating a Culture ofPeace — Making a Difference
as Peacebuilders in Daily Life.”
The event drew inspiration froma dialogue conducted throughcorrespondence between SGI
President Daisaku Ikeda andprofessor and peace activist Elise
Boulding, which was encapsulated intheir book Into Full Flower — Making
Peace Cultures Happen. Theirdialogue stresses the significant
roles that women, in particular, playin realizing peace in everyday life andsociety.
Panelists from SGI-Australia
included Vanna Rodda (Victoria),

Kate Clarkson (New South Wales),Francesca Cardoni (Western
Australia) and panel facilitator Nupur
Sood (New South Wales). Serena
Rix Tripathee, an International
Committee Member of the women’s
peace network Creators of Peace
was a guest speaker. All shared
their visions for peace and theactions they can take in daily life
to realize the culture of peace.
Highlights included: contributing
to society should start at home,valuable lessons from consensus
decision-making, establishingpeace in the minds of women, andthe extraordinary power of womenwhen they find their voices and join
together.

The Soka Gakkai Women’s Peace
Committee in Japan has been
holding a series of meetings invarious locations across Japan since
March 2022 titled: “Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) Forum:
The Way Forward to a Bright
Future.” The series aims to inspire
people to commit to putting theSDGs into action.
On 15 October 2022, the committee
held an online forum focused on
SDG 4, “Quality Education.” Takao
Ito, Professor at Soka University inTokyo, gave a lecture on the theme“For the Happiness of Children —Janusz Korczak and Tsunesaburo
Makiguchi.” He emphasized that theeducational philosophies of Janusz
Korczak, a Polish pediatrician andeducator, had greatly influenced theprocess of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC), which was
adopted by the United Nations in
1989 and entered into force in 1990.

Ito also highlighted the influenceof Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, thefounding president of Soka Gakkai,
who served as principal of a seriesof elementary schools in Japan formany years. Korczak and Makiguchi
resonated with one another in thatthey both believed in the potentialof all children and strived to treat
them with the utmost respect as
individuals.
Prior to the event, the Soka Gakkai
Women’s Peace Committee
conducted an online quiz and survey
on the CRC for 2,575 junior andhigh school students in Japan,
ages 12 to 17. The quiz gauged thestudents’ awareness of children’s
rights and asked about their basic
understanding of the Convention
and their opinions on their own
living environments. The results were
presented during the forum.

Quotes from the quiz on
situations in which children feelthey are not listened toSGI Annual Report 2022
ONLINE

Humanitarian
ReliefHigh-Level Political Forum Side Event by
Multi-Faith Advisory Council to the United Nations
Addresses Gender Equality

The MFAC, under the lead of its
Gender Working Group, organized
an official side event of the High-Level
Political Forum (HLPF). The 7 July
online event was co-sponsoredby the United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA), the UN Allianceof Civilizations and the UN Officeof Genocide Prevention and the
Responsibility to Protect. “Dispelling

Misconceptions and Myths: Faith
Actors Advancing Gender Equality
and the Empowerment of Womenand Girls” addressed three of the
Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) under review at the 2022
HLPF: gender equality, partnerships
for the goals and quality education.
Casey Harden, General Secretaryof World YWCA, opened the event,saying, “Religious language rooted inhuman rights framing has historically
proven to be a source of non-violent
transformation in the defense ofhuman rights, equality, integrity ingovernment and reconciliation andstability in divided societies.”
Following Harden’s introduction,
Ivy Koek of SGI hosted a panel
discussion. Panelists presented
various examples to counter thewidespread assumption that faith
actors perpetuate gender inequality,
demonstrating that they are, in fact,
striving to accomplish the opposite.

Casey Harden of YWCA and Ivy Koek of SGI (right), during the side event onfaith actors advancing gender equality

Korea SGIIn 2021, SGI joined the Multi-Faith
Advisory Council (MFAC), which wasestablished by the United Nations
Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion
and Sustainable Development(UN-IATF) consisting of over 20 UN
agencies. With over 40 religious
leaders and heads of faith-basedorganizations (FBOs), MFAC isan informal and voluntary groupthat supports the UN-IATF “as aplatform for knowledge exchange
and management, capacity building,system-wide guidance and oversight
regarding engagement with faithbased/-inspired civil society actors.”

51

SGI Annual Report 2022
POHANG. SOUTH KOREA

Humanitarian Assistance to South Korea in
Response to Typhoon Hinnamnor

Korea SGI

From 6–8 September, 100 KSGI
leaders and 73 youth members from
Daegu and Pohang visited Pohang
City to support those affected.
While engaging in relief activities, thevolunteers also provided emotional
support to local KSGI members who
had been affected by the typhoon.

In late August 2022, Typhoon
Hinnamnor left a trail of destruction
caused by heavy rains and related
flooding when it hit Pohang City inNorth Gyeongsang Province, South
Korea. Korea SGI (KSGI) supported
victims through financial andhumanitarian assistance.

On 21 October, KSGI also donatedfunds to the Pohang City Council
to support the earliest possible
recovery of the disaster-hit areas.
Prior to the typhoon’s landfall,record rainfall had struck Seoul andthe surrounding areas. On 8 August,
65 KSGI members from Gwanak-gu,
Dongjak-gu and Yeongdeungpo-gu
helped clean damaged houses andvisited those affected by flooding tooffer support.

and regional levels to take stockof the Sendai Framework’s
implementation. Governments
agreed to build and improve national
disaster risk reduction strategies
and strengthen synergy between
disaster-related issues and climatechange adaptation efforts.

Faith & Local Communities
regarding responses to COVID-19,
which state that faith leaders are
considered a reliable source of
information by community members
and, in some areas, contributed
to preventing the spread of
misinformation during the pandemic.

At the Ignite Stage, a space forstakeholders to present, Nobuyuki
Asai of SGI presented “Pursuingsocial connections to leave no one
behind: the perspective of a faithbased organization in a time ofsocial distancing” on 25 May. He
highlighted the robust grassroots
network the Soka Gakkai has built
through daily faith activities anddescribed its positive functions
during the crisis of isolation causedby the COVID-19 pandemic. Asai also
introduced research findings fromthe Joint Learning Initiative on

In addition to Asai’s presentation,
SGI joined a group of faith-basedorganizations (FBOs), including
ACT Alliance, Tearfund and local
faith organizations, to submit a jointstatement to the United Nations
Office for Disaster Risk Reduction(UNDRR). The statement, signed
by more than 30 FBOs, encourages
decision makers to “use the capacityof FBOs and local faith communities
to communicate with communities,building on the trust communities
have in their faith leaders.”

BALI, INDONESIA

Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction
Held in Bali
The seventh session of the Global
Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction(GPDRR) was held in Bali, Indonesia,
from 25–27 May 2022, with thetheme “From Risk to Resilience:
Toward Sustainable Development

53

for All in a COVID-19 Transformed
World.”The session examined theexperiences of practitioners andpolicymakers at local, national

Nobuyuki Asai of SGI presenting at the Ignite Stage

SGI Annual Report 2022

SGI - Action for Peace website

S EN DA I , JA PA N

Panel Session on Role of Partnerships in Disaster
Resilience Presented at Sendai Bosai Mirai ForumOn 5 March, 2022, the Soka
Gakkai Student Division in Tohoku
participated in the 8th Sendai Bosai(“disaster risk reduction”) Mirai
Forum held in Sendai City, Miyagi,
which was severely devastated by
the Great East Japan Earthquake in
2011.
The forum was first held in March
2016, on the first anniversary of theUnited Nations World Conference on
Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR)
held in Sendai in 2015. It aims toshare the lessons learned from theearthquake and offers opportunities
for multiple stakeholders tocollaborate in disaster risk reduction(DRR) efforts.
The Soka Gakkai student divisionorganized a panel session titled“Partnerships that Function as
Disaster Resilience” and ran an

Find out more

exhibition booth in the forum. In
the panel session, Akiko Benimura
from SDGs Tohoku introduced
their activities. Takahiro Shoji from
Umibe-no-Toshokan (“Library on
the Shore,” named after the Haruki
Murakami novel Kafka on the Shore)
spoke about creating a grassroots
network of people engaged with
DRR. He asserted that activities
aimed at local people must be
made enjoyable to attract their
participation.

Human Rights Education
Open Web Resource

A Soka Gakkai student division
representative shared the findingsof their annual DRR surveys fromthe past decade. He highlighted
declining levels of awarenessof the earthquake and DRR
among students and advocatedfor generating more innovative
partnerships in order to engage
more students.

Find out more

Soka Gakkai website

Kalyakan / Adobe

Soka Gakkai student division
representatives at the Sendai
Bosai Mirai Forum© Seikyo Shimbun

Find out more

55

SGI Headquarters

15-3 Samoncho, Shinjuku-ku,
Tokyo 160-0017, Japan
Email: contact@peacesgi.org
SGI Office for UN Affairs
Email: info@sgi-ouna.org

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