Bogota, May 20th, 2011 - Today Mayors for Peace signed an agreement of co-operation with the Federacion Colombiana de Municipios (FCM). FCM commits to support the elimination of all nuclear weapons by 2020, while Mayors for Peace commits to promote the work of the Colombian network of Municipalities for Peace, a network part of the FCM.
The agreement was celebrated at the headquarters of the FCM in Bogota during a moving signing ceremony with the staff of the association. The ceremony was reported on the national television of Colombia.
The agreement was signed by Gilberto Toro Giraldo, FCM Exectuive Director, and Marcella Jaromillo Suarez, FCM Director for Management Improvement & Territorial Development. Pol Heanna, Executive Advisor for the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation signed on behalf of Mayors for Peace.
The document expresses the support of FCM to the 2020 Vision Campaign, which aims to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020. FCM will invite all the 1,102 Colombian Mayors to join Mayors for Peace individually and intends to involve the national government to actively pursue the start of negotiations to establish a nuclear weapon free world.
In the agreement, Mayors for Peace offers its support to the work of Municipios por la Paz, promoting their activities and accomplishments internationally through the international network of member-cities.
The 'Red de Municipios Colombianos para la Paz', started working in 2008 with focus on the promotion and support for local governments to develop the construction of peace and the respect for human rights at the local level. Colombia has been torn by internal armed conflict, narco-traffic and proliferation of small arms.
FCM also intends to recruit 100 Colombian members for Mayors for Peace before the next commemoration marking the atomic bombing of the city of Hiroshima, on August 6th. An article about the organisation and the 2020Vision Campaign is planned for the next edition of “Municipios”, a publication produced by FCM and distributed nationwide to all local governments in Colombia.
The FCM amd Mayors for Peace also agreed to co-operate for an event in partnership with Peace Boat in the northern city of Cartegena, planned for September 29th 2011. The event aims to involve hibakushas (survivors of the A-Bomb), Colombian Mayors for Peace members and representatives of the national government.
The FCM was founded in 1989, and represents currently all local governments of Colombia. With the aim to work on decentralization and promote initiatives that allow the municipalities to be more autonomous, sustainable and generators of human development, democracy and peace, the Federation offers networking in three areas, namely best practices, democracy, and peace.
The past couple of years 7 Colombian cities had already joined Mayors for Peace. Mayors for Peace welcomes the new development with the FCM to further establish Mayors for Peace in Colombia and to deepen an understanding and co-operation with the network of Colombian Municipalities for Peace.
« back
