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 meeting November 21 -22, 2007 in the historic Palazzo Vecchio as guests of the Mayor of Florence, 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 will be 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 which he proposed a mayors campaign against nuclear weapons.
As in the first phase of the 2020 Vision Campaign, one of the main focuses of international activity 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. And 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 will be revealed in Geneva in May.
In 2008-2010, the Campaign will place 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 for its success.
Finally, in 2008 and 2009, Mayors for Peace will be going to the United Nations General Assembly to gain recognition of the vital stake that cities have in peace and security issues, and the role they can play to promote peace and disarmament. Mayors for Peace will not only be speaking on behalf of its by-then-over-2000 members, but also the urban world represented by United Cities and Local Government, which recent leant its support to the 2020 Vision Campaign .
We are convinced that we will find many UN member states willing to hoist high on the world stage the message of the half of humanity that now lives in cities: “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 recognized 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 up till 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.
