Partnership with PNND
There is tremendous potential for cooperation between mayors and parliamentarians (national and regional legislators). Infact, in most nations, both of them have the primary responsibility of representing citizens. Parliamentarians have the strength that they work closely with the executive branch of the national government and are expected to deal with national and international security issues. Mayor have the strength that they live and work full-time among their constituents and speak with special authority when they say ‘Cities Are Not Targets!’
There is only one international parliamentary network as focused on nuclear disarmament as Mayors for Peace. It is the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND). Over the past few years, Mayors for Peace and its 2020 Vision Campaign have established a strong cooperation with the PNND. Such cooperation includes mutual help in membership development and political lobbying in order to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. Members of Mayors for Peace encourage their local members of parliament to join PNND, while PNND members encourage their local mayors to join Mayors for Peace. Together, Mayors for Peace and PNND assist elected officials at all levels to represent the will of civil society for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, and to develop the political will to achieve this aspiration.
In May 2005, Mayors for Peace and PNND presented an appeal of mayors and parliamentarians for a nuclear weapons-free world to the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference to encourage States Parties to the NPT to implement the Article VI obligation for nuclear disarmament. In October 2005, we presented the appeal to the United Nations General Assembly to encourage the commencement of negotiations on a Fissile Materials Treaty, legally binding assurances not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear States, prevention of an arms race in outer space, and a comprehensive program for nuclear disarmament.
Mayors for Peace and PNND are exploring options for the achievement of nuclear abolition through a nuclear weapons convention (NWC). Mayors for Peace calls for negotiations on a NWC to be completed by 2010, with all nuclear weapons to be eliminated by 2020 (See 2020 Vision campaign). PNND members have raised the idea of a NWC for discussion in a number of parliaments and have highlighted the Model NWC circulated by the United Nations (UN Document A/C.1/52/7) and submitted to the 2007 NPT Conference (NPT 2007 Working Paper 17).
