- Yuya Morishita is a high school student from Hiroshima Prefecture with a strong interest in peace education and international affairs. He completed the 2025 UNITAR Hiroshima Youth Ambassador Programme.
- He worked with fellow participants to develop proposals for a road map towards a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons.
- Yuya came to realize that treaties alone cannot stop wars and that peace education may help foster true understanding and action for peace.
12 January 2026, Hiroshima, Japan - "Simply advocating for peace and taking action for peace are not the same", says Yuya Morishita, a third-year high school student in Hiroshima. In 2025, Yuya joined 24 other students in the UNITAR Hiroshima Youth Ambassador Programme.
From Paper Cranes to the Youth Ambassador Programme
Yuya has been involved in peace activities since his first year of junior high school, when he joined his school's Origami Crane Club. The club receives thousands of paper cranes, which symbolize peace in Japan, from around the world and delivers them to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial on the senders' behalf.
From folding paper cranes, Yuya began to participate more in peace events and extend his activism. He also developed an interest in international affairs through his studies about war and peace. The UNITAR Hiroshima Youth Ambassador Programme fits all these interests, so when he heard about it through the Crane Club, he decided to apply.
Launched in 2010, the UNITAR Hiroshima Youth Ambassador Programme aims to nurture the next generation of peacebuilders among high school students in Hiroshima Prefecture. The 2025 programme ran from June to August, with the support of the Hiroshima Prefectural Government and Soroptimist Hiroshima Chuo and the cooperation of UNITAR Association. Over two months, the Youth Ambassadors learned from experts who are engaged in peace-related work and deepened their understanding of nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation, and peacebuilding.
For Yuya, lectures by professionals in the field were not only opportunities to gain knowledge, but also catalysts for thinking concretely about what a "peaceful world" should look like. One session in particular, a lecture by a speaker with experience in peacekeeping operations, left a strong impression. Moved by the speaker's insights grounded in practical experience, Yuya reflected on the reality that civilians bear the greatest burden of war. He came to understand war not only as an issue between nations but as a matter that profoundly affects people's lives and daily realities. He now sees the protection and support of civilians as fundamental to peace.
Reflections on International Law and the United Nations System
To process what they learned from the speakers and to translate it into action, the Youth Ambassadors worked in groups along three themes - peace education, hibakusha, and human rights and international law - to develop a road map towards achieving a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons by 2050, which they presented at the Youth Dialogue for International Peace on 6 August.
Yuya decided to focus on human rights and international law. His research for the group led him to recognize the limitations of treaties and international law. "Treaties alone can't stop wars", Yuya says. He believes that treaties and international laws created to protect peace can lead to international debate only when their shortcomings are made visible. And for that, he says, we all need to act, no matter how small the action.
It is not enough to learn about peace - we must think for ourselves and act. Such actions help reduce prejudice and foster understanding of others' perspectives." - Yuya Morishita, 2025 UNITAR Hiroshima Youth Ambassador
His research for the road map also brought his attention to the seriousness of the veto power held by the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. His group included in the road map a proposal to make the issue of veto power more visible and better understood. He expects technologies, such as holograms, to help preserve hibakusha's experiences and transmit them vividly across language barriers.
Fostering Peace Through Cross-Cultural Understanding
Yuya believes that fostering peace is rooted in learning from history and understanding each other beyond differences in culture or values. Mandatory peace education in primary and secondary schools worldwide could be one way to ensure that young people find their own ways to contribute to peace.
In peace education, simply knowing about others and truly understanding their perspectives are not the same. Education is about learning to understand different standpoints."
While he plans on studying math or sciences in university, Yuya intends to remain connected to peace-related work. "Many people find it hard to act alone", he says. But that's why he believes it's important to keep challenging yourself. "We have to keep putting our convictions into words and sharing them with others. Even acting alone can bring about change in those around you."
United Nations Online Volunteer Reona Takahashi Sonson contributed to this article.
