Tibet's exiled spiritual leader was joined by fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Betty Williams and all three also warned that building a more stable world hinged on alleviating poverty.

"The message from here to all the world is that nuclear weapons are terrible," the Dalai Lama told a symposium in the western Japanese city of Hiroshima.

"There were two bombs, first in Hiroshima and then in Nagasaki, and I think that since then no one dares to use these awful weapons," he said.

"These two cities really must send a strong message that these types of weapons sooner or later have to be eliminated."

US nuclear bombs obliterated Hiroshima and the southern Japanese city of Nagasaki in the closing days of World War II, killing more than 210,000 people instantly or from horrific burns.

More states have turned nuclear in recent years, with communist North Korea last month saying it had tested its first atom bomb and Iran widely suspected of seeking a nuclear arsenal.

India -- where the Dalai Lama has lived in exile for close to five decades -- and Pakistan became declared nuclear powers in 1998.

Tutu, a key figure in South Africa's fight against apartheid, warned that improving global security -- including ending terrorism -- required giving more attention to the world's poorest.

"We know that while there is so much instability in the world, some have so much while others have too little," said the 75-year-old Anglican leader.

"We need to say to the world -- and especially you young people must say to us oldies -- we will not win the so-called war on terror as long as there are conditions in so many parts of the world that keep people desperate," he said.

"The only way we can be free is together. It seems so simple and you wonder why we have taken so long to learn this simple lesson."

But the Dalai Lama voiced hope for the future, saying that globalization should be a wake-up call.

"Now national boundaries are not so important," said the 71-year-old Buddhist monk. "The whole world is one entity, one body. That is the new reality."

"I always tell people that we human beings, in a way because of this intelligence, are the biggest troublemaker. Yet because of this intelligence we also have the capacity to not only take care of ourselves but also to take care of the whole world," he said.

"But if we neglect, then with the human population increasing and the gap between rich and poor increasing, the situation of the desperate will increase and there's every danger of more violence," he said.

"With a vision, then a positive result may materialize."

Betty Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting a peaceful settlement in strife-torn Northern Ireland, lashed out at countries that possess nuclear weapons, saying they ignored an epidemic of hunger.

Williams, who now focuses on promoting children's rights, said the young were too often forgotten as victims.

"Upwards of 40,000 children die every day from hunger. In a world that can feed itself and chooses to grow weapons instead of food, we so-called Christians should all hang our heads in shame for allowing this to happen," she said.

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