July 22, 2026

The 2026 World Conference against A & H Bombs will be held from August 3 to 9 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The success of this year’s World Conference will be more important than ever in the run-up to a review conference of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) slated for November given that the movement toward the abolition of nuclear weapons has steadily grown despite the failure of this year’s NPT Review Conference to adopt a final outcome document.

The NPT Review Conference in May concluded without issuing an outcome document. Regarding this, many media outlets in their reports presented a pessimistic assessment regarding on nuclear disarmament.

However, the global trend toward the abolition of nuclear weapons has strongly developed as shown by the fact that 70% of NPT member states in the latest Review Conference called for the implementation of Article 6 stipulating the obligation to negotiate nuclear disarmament and abolition, and that the number of countries that signed and ratified the TPNW has reached 100. In addition, the first TPNW Review Conference scheduled to be held in November will deal with further measures to achieve nuclear disarmament and abolition. It is believed that strategic discussions aimed at abolishing nuclear arms will be held. In this respect, this year’s anti-nuke World Conference will play a role in setting the direction of the anti-nuke movement leading up to the TPNW Review Conference.

At the same time, considering that the NPT Review Conference illuminated the growing importance of public opinion in support of overcoming the nuclear deterrence theory, this year’s World Conference will become an important opportunity to increase such public opinion.