[Vredeslijst] Fwd: Hiroshima: 4, 069 local governments unite to ban nuclear weapons by 2020 [pol op 2020visioncampaign.org]

[Omslag]

Op 02-08-10 16:00:40 schreef Pol Heanna - Mayors for Peace:

For immediate release

Cities are Not Targets: 4,069 local governments unite to ban nuclear weapons
by 2020

Hiroshima, August 1st 2010 – Mayors for Peace announces that last month 32
local governments<http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/data/pdf/newmembers1008_en.pdf>have
joined their fast-growing global network to ban nuclear weapons by
2020. With today 4,069
members<http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/english/membercity/map.html>in
144 countries and regions (1), Mayors for Peace repeats its urgent
call
upon all governments to immediately start negotiations for an international
treaty to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020.

A rapidly increasing number of cities has been showing support to the goals
of the organisation headquartered in Hiroshima. The latest members are from
Albania (1), Croatia (1), France (1), Germany (1), Greece (3), Iraq (11),
Italy (1) and Japan (13).

The ongoing growth in Japan, led by the organization's founding cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was this month closely followed by Iraq under the
efforts of Halabja, site of the use of chemical weapons in 1988. Many of the
leading cities in Mayors for Peace have also suffered severely from the
scourge of war.

The importance of the work of the organisation was welcomed by UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message to the international conference
sponsored by Mayors for Peace held in Hiroshima July 28th & 29th, where he
stressed that “Most of the world’s population today lives in cities. If the
mayors of the world are uniting, the world is uniting” (message UN SG
attached).

Ban Ki-moon will be the first UN Secretary-General to participate in the
Hiroshima commemoration on August 6th. marking the 65th anniversary of the
atomicr bombing of the city. This will also be the first time that the US,
the only country that has used nuclear weapons, will send an Ambassador to
participate in the Hiroshima commemoration.

While the idea that cities are not targets is gathering increasing support
from local governments around the world, the financial contributions to
enable the work of the organization has been mostly raised by cities that
have suffered the scourge of war. In July 2010 the financial contributions
received were raised by the cities of Ypres (Belgium), which was completely
destroyed during the First World War; Granollers (Spain), that was bombed
during the Spanish Civil War; and Hanover (Germany), which was the target of
strategic bombings during World War II. But also other cities, part of the
campaign's the leadership, are stepping up efforts to raise funds. The
expanding leadership of Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign now counts 23
members (1).

Note:

(1)  Leadership Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign: the 13 Executive
Members are the Mayors of Hiroshima & Nagasaki (Japan), Akron (US), Ypres
(Belgium), Biograd (Croatia), Florence (Italy), Granollers (Spain), Halabja
(Iraq), Hanover (Germany), Malakoff (France), Manchester (UK), Volgograd
(Russia), and Waitakere (New Zealand). To date ten cities have accepted
Associate Membership: Fremantle (Australia), Bastogne (Belgium), Fongo-Tongo
(Cameroon), Matagalapa (Nicaragua), Mexico City (Mexico), Montevideo
(Uruguay), Montreal (Canada), Mora (Costa Rica), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil),
and Whistler (Canada).



PS: please note my new name after my wedding last month. I adopted the name
of my wife. See this also as a small personal statement. We should not
forget that our brothers called the Hiroshima A-bomb ''Little Boy'' and
Nagasaki ''Fat Man''. Also the codenames for the over 2000 nuclear tests
also illustrate their patriarchal mind-set. Let the future be more female.

-- 
International Development Director &
Executive Advisor Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation

Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign
Sao Paulo, BRAZIL

E-mail: pol op 2020visioncampaign.org
Website: www.2020visioncampaign.org
Skype:poltanner

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