Mayors for Peace is a network of over 4500 cities, with new cities joining every day. The organization was founded in 1991 by the then Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It calls upon cities to stand together for nuclear abolition and world peace. The leadership provided by the Cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an important reminder that these are not abstract threats, but a matter of life and death for cities.
The Mayor of Hiroshima serves as the organization’s President, while its Secretariat is housed in the Peace Culture Foundation of the City of Hiroshima. Representatives of the member cities hold a General Conference every four years, the venue alternating between Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The General Conference elects an Executive Conference that meets biannually in different cities. There are currently 14 cities on the Executive Conference.
Under Mayor Akiba’s leadership, the 2001 General Conference adopted an Action Plan for the first time. In 2005, it approved the provisional decision of the 2003 Executive Conference to conduct an emergency campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons, calling it the 2020 Vision Campaign. The organization also promotes Hiroshima-Nagasaki study programs in universities around the world.
Mayors for Peace has ECOSOC and DPI consultative status with the United Nations. In 1996, the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki testified to the International Court of Justice when it was developing, at the request of the UN General Assembly an advisory opinion on the legality of the threat and use of nuclear weapons. In 2006, as part of the 2020 Vision Campaign, the Good Faith Delegation of Mayors returned to the Court to mark the tenth anniversary of the advisory opinion. Mayors for Peace interacts with all relevant aspects of the UN system, as well as Nuclear Weapon Free Zones.
Mayors for Peace also has developed close ties to other associations of local governments, most notably, United Cities and Local Government, the premiere international organization for cities and the voice of cities at the UN, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, for the 1100 cities with populations over 30,000 in the United States. It attends their congresses and conferences regularly, and their representatives attend ours.
Since DATE, the Executive Conference of Mayors for Peace has issued condemnations of nuclear weapon tests as they occur. More recently, attacks on cities involving the use of explosive force have also been condemned by the Executive Conference.
