2020 Vision Campaign

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Posted on June 17th, 2009

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President of Mayors for Peace expresses ‘fury’ over North Korea plans

June 16, 2009

Over the weekend, the President of Mayors for Peace and the Mayor of Hiroshima, Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, expressed his concern at the recently announced plans of North Korea to build on their nuclear arsenal. Reacting to this dangerous development, he describes the “grave challenge” this poses the international community.

Please find the full article, from Yahoo News, below.

Yahoo News, Sun Jun 14, 8:03 am ET

TOKYO (AFP) – The mayor of Hiroshima — one of the two Japanese cities obliterated by US atom bombs during World War II — on Sunday denounced North Korea for threatening to build more nuclear weapons, a report said.

“I am furious, with them (North Korea) for defying strong protests from the international community, including Hiroshima, the city attacked in an atomic bombing,” mayor Tadatoshi Akiba said in a statement, as reported by Jiji Press.

“This means a grave challenge for the international community, which can never be forgiveable,” Akiba said.

Hiroshima officials were not immediately available to confirm the report.

Akiba’s comments came a day after North Korea vowed to build more nuclear bombs and to start enriching uranium for a new atomic weapons programme, after the UN Security Council called for sanctions over its nuclear test.

The 15-member Council voted unanimously Friday to slap tougher sanctions on the North to cripple its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

The North, describing Friday’s sanctions resolution as a “vile product” of a US-inspired campaign, said it would never abandon nuclear weapons and would treat any attempt to blockade it as an act of war.

The hardline communist state, in a foreign ministry statement reported by its official news agency, said all new plutonium it extracts would be weaponised.

Latest News

Posted on June 17th, 2009

Written by admin

Welcome, Mayor! Welcome, concerned citizen!

Mayors for Peace leadership calls on the world to prepare for
“the UN decisive decade for nuclear disarmament 2010-2020″ The 7th Executive Conference of Mayors for Peace (November 21 -22, 2007), meeting in the historic Palazzo Vecchio of Florence as guests of the Mayor Leonardo Domenici, vowed to provide global leadership in preparing for the Disarmament Decade called for by the UN General Assembly. This third phase of the 2020 Vision Campaign was launched in Geneva in May 2008, on the fifth anniversary of the speech made there by Mayors for Peace President, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima. In this speech, he shared his vision of an international mayoral campaign against nuclear weapons. As in the first phase of the 2020 Vision Campaign, one of the main focuses of international activity in this third phase will be the NPT review process. In conjunction with the 2005 NPT Review Conference, Mayors for Peace organized a Mayors Conference at the United Nations which was addressed by then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In this review cycle, Mayors for Peace will organize two mayors conferences during the review preparatory period, in Geneva and in New York. Furthermore, it will send a delegation of mayors from the major metropolises of the world to the 2010 Review Conference. Further elements of this aspect of the 2020 Vision Campaign were revealed in Geneva in May. In 2008-2010, the Campaign will place an even greater emphasis on Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemorations in August. The hallmark of the 2020 Vision Campaign has been cooperation between mayors and civil society leaders. To further that cooperation, Mayor Tomihisa Taue will propose to Nagasaki’s citizens peace committee that the Fourth Global Citizens Assembly for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons coincide with the 7th General Conference of Mayors for Peace in August 2009. This will provide an excellent joint venue for taking stock of global preparations for the UN Disarmament Decade and adding to the momentum towards its success. Finally, in 2008 and 2009, Mayors for Peace will be going to the United Nations General Assembly to gain recognition for the vital stake that cities hold in peace and security issues, and the role that they can play in promoting peace and disarmament. Mayors for Peace will not only be speaking on behalf of its (more than) 2,400 members, but also for the urban world represented by United Cities and Local Government, which recently leant its support to the 2020 Vision Campaign . We are certain that we will find many UN member states willing to place our message, and the message of the half of humanity that now lives in urban areas, at the forefront of the international consciousness: “Cities Are Not Targets!” These international activities will be backed on the national and grassroots level with increased joint campaigning by local authorities and civil society. The Executive Committee recognizes the importance of a range of capacity-building measures during this preparatory phase. Foremost among these is broadening the base of financial support for the 2020 Vision Campaign beyond Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who until now have footed the entire bill. To this end, a special non-profit entity has been established to run the International Campaign Secretariat in Belgium and it has been authorized to solicit funds from the Mayors for Peace membership for the 2020 Vision Campaign.

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Posted on May 30th, 2009

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Memberships grows again, with 2,926 Mayors for Peace in 134 countries and regions

With 56 new members joining us in June and 53 in May, membership has shot up to a total of 2,926 local authorities in 134 countries and regions around the world in the past months.
Our new members hail from 18 countries. They are: Austria (1); Burkina Faso (1); Cameroon (2); Canada (1); Finland (1); France (3); Germany (1); Iraq (19); Ireland (2); Israel (25); Italy (4); Japan (26); Korea (1); Russia (1); Spain (15); Sweden (4); UK (1); USA (1).

In Israel, the very encouraging 25 new members this month are thanks to the efforts of Sharon Dolev of Greenpeace Israel. These new members follow a letter from Mayors for Peace President and Mayor of Hiroshima, Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, which was translated into Hebrew and distributed earlier this year.

Equally, the impressive progress in Iraq has been driven by our Executive City Halabja, and their endless motivation for ourn cause under the direction of Mayor Khder Kareem.

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Posted on May 30th, 2009

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NATO boss reacts to statement European Mayors

Below is a reaction of NATO-boss De Hoop-Scheffer and Dutch Minister of
Foreign Affairs to the Op-ed of the Mayors for Peace marking the 20th
anniversary of the INF treaty.

Free translation of front page article in “Reformatorisch Dagblad”, The
Netherlands, Saturday December 8th 2007 BRUSSELS/UDEN – NATO has “no plan” to change its nuclear policies. This was stated by NATO-boss Mr. De Hoop Scheffer last Friday in a reaction to a call by 8 European mayors who want the withdrawal of US nuclear weapons stationed on their territories.

The mayors demand this in an Op-ed which will be published in several countries, amongst which our newspaper. In six countries an estimated 400 US nuclear weapons are deployed. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the INF_treaty signed by US president Reagan and USSR leader Gorbatchev. With this treaty they promised to withdraw intermediate nuclear missiles. According to the mayors this process was halted. The signatories belong to the “Mayors for Peace, under presidency of the mayors Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima. The Japanese city was destroyed by an atom bomb in 1945.

Remarkable is that the mayors accept the deployment of US nuclear weapons as a fact. They state that the 6 NATO countries, amongst which The Netherlands, have allowed “the deployment of US nuclear weapons on their territory”. They call to follow the Greek example which withdrew all US nuclear weapons in 2001.

Also the Dutch mayor Ms. Kersten of Uden – with the airforce base of Volkel – is amongst the signatories. Last summer she stated in this paper that she officially has” no knowledge” of nuclear weapons on the airbase. Yesterday she added through a spokesperson that she had “nothing to add”.

The mayors complain about the secrecy surrounding these nuclear weapons. The Dutch government for example “nor confirms or denies” the presence of the weapons. According to the mayors this makes it “difficult, even impossible to have an open and honest democratic debate”.

NATO is “not planning to change its nuclear policies?, according to
secretary-general De Hoop Scheffer Firday in Brussels. ?I am afraid that I can not help the mayors? The official NATO-position is that the US nuclear weapons “contribute” to peace in Europe.

The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs reacted with reservation after the meeting with his NATO colleagues to the call: “At the end we all want a world without nuclear weapons. But so far they are legal and accepted. Thus far I can not meet the mayors’ demand”. The minister made it a point that he could not confirm “that there are nuclear weapons on the territory on the territory of Uden”.