A group of Japanese senior high school students has returned to Japan from Switzerland after submitting about 96,000 signatures on an antinuclear petition to the UN Office at Geneva.

The 22 members of the team from the Youth Communicator for a World without Nuclear Weapons held a briefing in the city of Nagasaki on Saturday, the day after their return.

Every year in their bid to achieve total nuclear disarmament, members of the student group collect signatures from around Japan to submit to the UN Office at Geneva.

At Saturday's session, members of this year's team reported what UN disarmament officials told them. They said the officials cited the need for young people to keep raising their voices for the abolition of nuclear arms.

The students also said they attended a reception where they exchanged views on nuclear disarmament with representatives from various countries.

A senior high school student from Nagasaki, Ohara Yuka, said she realized the importance of talking to people with different opinions and trying to learn about their backgrounds. She said she wants to study effective ways to convey the feelings and thoughts of atomic bomb survivors to other people. She said she also wants to help create a society of lasting peace without nuclear weapons or conflict.

An 87-year-old A-bomb survivor attended the session. Yamakawa Takeshi said the youths' active participation is a source of hope as the A-bomb survivors grow old.