A students’ group in Nagasaki Prefecture said Sunday it has collected more than 1 million signatures from senior high school students calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons since it started gathering them in 2001.

At a meeting in Nagasaki the same day of about 50 former and current members of the group, the executive committee said the total number of signatures has reached 1.04 million.

Erica Fujimoto, 29, who was the founding member of the group, said, “I’m amazed to see the activity of the group, whose initial target was 10,000, expand to this extent.”

The group also said the 195,000 signatures it has collected this year will be submitted to the United Nations Office at Geneva by a group of 20 high school students from 12 prefectures across Japan. The students were selected by a citizens’ group in Nagasaki.