Happy Women's Map 広島県 核兵器禁止条約の立役者・日本女性初ノーベル平和賞受賞演説 サーロー節子 女史
「諦めるな。頑張れ。光が見えるか。それに向かってはっていくんだ」
"Don't give up. Keep pushing forward. Can you see the light? Keep working towards it."
サーロー 節子 女史
Ms. Setsuko Thurlow
1932 -
広島県広島市南区 生誕
Born in Hiroshima-city, Hiroshima-ken
サーロー節子女史は核兵器廃絶運動・被爆者運動の活動家です。2017年の核兵器禁止条約に貢献、同年のノーベル平和授賞式の壇上で「核兵器廃絶国際キャンペーン」（ＩＣＡＮ）総代表として演説を行いました。
Ms. Setsuko Thurlow is an activist in the nuclear disarmament and hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) movements. She made significant contributions to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017 and, in the same year, delivered a speech as the co-representative of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
*******
節子は広島市東荒神町に７人きょうだいの末っ子として生まれます。父・弁吉は１０代の若さで米国カリフォルニア州に移民してサクラメント郊外に大きな果樹園を経営していました。日本人は土地所有が許されずドイツ人との共同経営ながら財をなして一家は広島へ戻り、節子が生まれます。広島女学院高等女学校（現広島女学院中高）に入学して英語またピアノに勤しむはずが、２年生になると学徒動員作業の毎日。農作業、軍服・群靴・たばこの製造、前線から届く暗号メッセージの解読作業に動員されます。節子13歳の８月６日、同級生約４０人と一緒に木造の建物の２階に上がって作業を開始する直前、すさまじい閃光に包まれ体ごと吹き飛ばされます。「あきらめるな！光に向かってはっていけ！」と励まされた節子は、血まみれの体でがれきの下から這い出ます。級友は建物の下敷きとなって焼け死に、きょうだいは被爆して無残に息絶え、叔父叔母は無傷ながらまもなく紫斑が出て苦しみながら急死。両親と4人になったきょうだいと母方の親戚に身を寄せ、脱毛や歯肉の出血といった放射線障害の急性症状に苦しみながらトタン屋根で再会した学校に通い始めます。新制高校２年生のときに敏子は級友と「広島女学院高校新聞」を創刊。さらに敏子は広島女学院のキリスト教教育に感化され受洗、広島女学院大に進んでキリスト教女子青年会（ＹＷＣＡ）の原水爆禁止運動・被爆者運動に参加します。広島初の国際会議「第１回世界連邦アジア会議」で通訳を務めると、会議出席者から留学して米国で反核について伝えるよう提案されます。第五福竜丸が「死の灰」を浴びた半年後に節子はリンチバーグ大（米バージニア州）に留学。節子は社会福祉を学びながら、孤独と恐怖に屈せず学内の集会やロータリークラブで被爆体験を進んで語ります。郷里の父・弁吉が他界した年に、節子はカナダ出身の牧師ジム・サーローと結婚、カナダに移住します。子育てをしながら勉強を続け、トロント市教育委員会でソーシャルワークに従事しながら、カナダ初の原爆展、反核運動家の支援、軍縮・平和教育に奔走します。そんななか節子は、反核医師たちを中心にオーストラリアで設立された「核兵器廃絶国際キャンペーン」（ＩＣＡＮ）の活動家となり、世界中の若者と一緒に核兵器禁止条約を各国代表に訴えはじめます。節子85歳のとき、国連本部の条約交渉会議で「７２年前に虐殺された数十万人の霊もここで見ている。彼らの死は無駄でなかったと思えるような交渉をしてほしい」と発言。１２２カ国・地域の賛成多数で条約が成立します。それを受けＩＣＡＮのノーベル平和賞受賞が決まると、節子はＩＣＡＮ国際運営委員の代表として受賞演説に登壇、２つの母国である日本とカナダはじめさらなる国々の条約参加を訴えます。２０２３年被爆地・広島で開かれたG7サミットによる「広島ビジョン」に核兵器の非人道性や核兵器禁止条約への言及がなったことに、節子は厳しく批判しています。
Setsuko Thurlow was born as the youngest of seven siblings in Higashiaramachi, Hiroshima City. Her father, Benkichi, immigrated to California, USA, at a young age and managed a large orchard in the outskirts of Sacramento. Although Japanese were not allowed to own land, they managed it jointly with Germans and prospered. The family returned to Hiroshima, and that's where Setsuko was born. Setsuko entered Hiroshima Jogakuin High School (now Hiroshima Jogakuin Middle and High School) and was dedicated to studying English and piano. However, in her second year, her daily life was disrupted due to student mobilization for wartime labor. She was assigned to various tasks, including agricultural work, manufacturing military uniforms, boots, and cigarettes, and decoding messages received from the front lines. On August 6, 1945, Setsuko, at the age of 13, was on the second floor of a wooden building with about 40 classmates, just about to start their work when an intense flash enveloped them, and she was blown away by the blast. Despite her severely injured body, Setsuko heard encouraging words like "Never give up! Head towards the light!" and crawled out from under the rubble, covered in blood. Her classmates were crushed under the collapsed building, and many of her siblings died as hibakusha. While suffering from acute symptoms of radiation sickness, such as hair loss and bleeding gums, Setsuko started attending school again, held under a corrugated iron roof. In her second year of the new high school system, Setsuko and her classmates founded the "Hiroshima Jogakuin High School Newspaper." She was inspired by the Christian education at Hiroshima Jogakuin and was baptized. She then went on to Hiroshima Jogakuin University (now Hiroshima Jogakuin University), where she participated in the anti-nuclear movements and hibakusha movements as part of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). Setsuko served as an interpreter during the first-ever international conference in Hiroshima, "First World Federalist Conference." During the conference, attendees proposed that she should study abroad in the United States to convey the message against nuclear weapons. Half a year after the Castle Bravo test, which irradiated the Lucky Dragon No. 5, Setsuko embarked on her study abroad journey to Lynchburg College in Virginia, USA. There, she studied social work and shared her hibakusha experience at school gatherings and Rotary Clubs, despite feelings of loneliness and fear. In the year her father, Benkichi, passed away, Setsuko married Canadian pastor Jim Thurlow and moved to Canada. While raising her children, she continued her studies and engaged in activities such as organizing Canada's first atomic bomb exhibitions, supporting anti-nuclear activists, and advocating for disarmament and peace education. In the midst of these activities, Setsuko became an activist for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), founded mainly by anti-nuclear doctors in Australia. She joined young people from around the world in advocating for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and lobbied representatives from various countries. At the age of 85, during the United Nations treaty negotiation conference held in New York, Setsuko spoke passionately: "The spirits of the hundreds of thousands who died seventy-two years ago are looking down upon us. I want to believe that their spirits will be pleased with the treaty negotiations taking place here. We who know the agony of radiation from our own bodies must save future generations." Her speech led to the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons with the support of 122 countries and regions. Subsequently, Setsuko, as the Co-Chair of ICAN's International Steering Group, delivered a speech at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony when ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She called for Japan, Canada, and other countries, including her two homelands, to join the treaty. At the 2023 G7 Summit held in Hiroshima, where Setsuko has a deep connection as a hibakusha, she criticized the "Hiroshima Vision" for not addressing the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and not mentioning the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
-The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
-中国新聞広島メディアセンター Chugoku News Hiroshima Media Center
-「ヒロシマへの誓い サーロー節子とともに」 "The ways to view The Vow From Hiroshima"
Share Your Love and Happy Women's Story！
あなたを元気にする女性の逸話をお寄せください！
Share your story of a woman that inspires you!
この記事が気に入ったらサポートをしてみませんか？