WESTERN BUREAU:
Jamaica’s Ambassador to Japan, Shorna-Kay Richards, is calling for global nuclear disarmament, urging the passengers aboard the Peace Boat to “never give up the fight” for peace, justice, and a nuclear-free world.
Delivering a stirring lecture aboard the ship en route to Montego Bay, Richards highlighted Jamaica’s longstanding role in nuclear disarmament, tracing the island’s advocacy from its earliest days of Independence to its current leadership within the international community.
The event forms part of the Peace Boat’s ‘Time for Peace’ initiative, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and amplifying the voices of hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“Even as a small island developing state, Jamaica has never been silent,” said Richards. “Our history of slavery and colonialism has shaped our moral compass; we know what it means to fight for life, for dignity, for peace.”
In a deeply personal moment, she reflected on her own journey into disarmament advocacy, recalling a 2005 United Nations fellowship that took her to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“It was there that I found my voice,” she said, recounting the impact of meeting survivors and witnessing the devastation left behind. “As I departed Japan, I made a promise to the hibakusha, that I would dedicate my life to the abolition of nuclear weapons.”
Since then, Richards has represented Jamaica in key negotiations, including the working group that paved the way for the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). As the only English-speaking Caribbean delegate at those Geneva sessions, she said she was determined to ensure that “the voices of small island states and of women” were heard, loud and clear.
Jamaica, she noted, has ratified all major treaties in the global non-proliferation architecture, including the Treaty of Tlatelolco, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), and the TPNW.
The island was also the first country in the world to impose a trade embargo against apartheid South Africa and has led regional efforts to keep the Caribbean a nuclear-free zone.
Richards warned, however, that the global community is once again “on the brink,” with nuclear rhetoric on the rise, arsenals expanding, and multilateral disarmament efforts stalling. “The doomsday clock is at 89 seconds to midnight. Now is not the time to retreat. The hibakusha have never retreated.”
She ended her lecture with a call to action inspired by the late reggae legend Bob Marley, who in one of his songs, stated, “Get up, stand up. Never give up the fight.”
The Peace Boat, carrying more than 1,700 passengers including Nobel Peace Prize recipients from the Japanese anti-nuclear organisation Nihon Hidankyo, is scheduled to dock in Montego Bay today. A series of peace-themed events and cultural exchanges will take place in collaboration with the Women of Western Jamaica, a movement of executives from the island’s western region committed to social change and community empowerment.
