Nuclear Records as Global Heritage” Human Rights Webinar to Address Preservation of Pacific Nuclear Legacy
As the climate crisis places the records and traces of Pacific nuclear testing at risk of disappearance, preserving the truth of nuclear testing is gaining attention as an international task to protect the rights and peace of future generations.
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) will host the 2nd Pacific Nuclear Legacy Human Rights Webinar online on May 9 under the theme “Nuclear Records as Global Heritage: Securing Peace in a Changing Climate.”
The upcoming webinar is organized as a follow-up discussion to the first Human Rights Webinar, “Nuclear Legacy: Enduring Impacts in a Changing Climate,” held on February 28.
The first webinar brought together experts and civil society representatives from the Pacific, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, highlighting that the impacts of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands are no longer an issue confined to one region, but a human rights, environmental, and security concern that requires a collective response from the international community.
In particular, the webinar addressed how the 67 nuclear tests conducted in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958 have left continuing impacts, including radioactive contamination, forced displacement, destruction of livelihoods, health consequences, and cultural loss. It also raised concerns that climate change, including sea level rise and coastal erosion, could further intensify existing nuclear contamination and related harm.
Building on the first webinar, which reframed nuclear legacy as an ongoing human rights crisis, the second webinar will further discuss how records, testimonies, and community memories of Pacific nuclear testing can be recognized as global heritage and preserved as a peace legacy for future generations.
The upcoming event will examine the historical context of Pacific nuclear testing and the moral obligation to preserve the truth of the region. It will also explore ways for civil society, educators, media, and international partners to cooperate in safeguarding the Pacific’s collective memory and transforming it into an asset for peace education.
In particular, Martin B. Kalinowski, Coordinator of Peace Science Collaboration and former official of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), will address how modern scientific data can be combined with historical evidence from the Pacific to establish nuclear records as an unchangeable legacy of evidence and global heritage.
Through this webinar, HWPL seeks to transform the records and testimonies of nuclear testing harm in the Pacific into educational and peaceful assets, in line with Article 10 of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW), which emphasizes the spreading of a culture of peace. By doing so, HWPL aims to contribute to preserving historical truth, preventing the suffering caused by nuclear testing from being forgotten or repeated, and establishing a peace legacy that protects the rights and safety of future generations.
HWPL is an international peace NGO working with partners in civil society, education, youth, women, religious communities, media, and various other sectors around the world to promote peace education, interfaith dialogue, and the spread of a culture of peace. Based on the DPCW, HWPL continues its efforts to strengthen international cooperation for peace and the protection of future generations.
[Event Information]
Title: Nuclear Records as Global Heritage: Securing Peace in a Changing Climate
Date: May 9, 2026 (Saturday)
Time: 08:00 UTC
• 10:00 Africa, Europe
• 17:00 Korea (KST)
• 19:00 Solomon Islands
• 20:00 Fiji, Marshall Islands
Platform: Online via Zoom
Registration Form
https://forms.gle/zrVeKKutiv73fK1t7
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