Hiroshima, February 1st 2011 - Mayors for Peace announced today that 49 new member cities have joined during the month of January 2011. Mayors for Peace now counts 4,515 members in 150 countries and regions. The largest growth was recorded the past month in Russia, Japan and Israel. Last month Mayors for Peace was awarded both the 1st Gautam Buddha International Peace Award by the Government of Nepal and the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award by the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University.
Hiroshima, February 1st 2011 - Mayors for Peace announced today that 49 new member cities have joined during the month of January 2011. Mayors for Peace now counts 4,515 members in 150 countries and regions. The largest growth was recorded the past month in Russia, Japan and Israel. Last month Mayors for Peace was awarded both the 1st Gautam Buddha International Peace Award by the Government of Nepal and the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award by the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University.
Membership in Russia grew with 13 new members as a result of an outreach effort by the Vice-President City of Volgograd. Russia now counts 34 members of Mayors for Peace.
In Israel 7 new members were welcomed following efforts by Mr. Samir Darwish, the Mayor of Zemer, who was welcomed in November 2010 in the leadership of Mayors for Peace as an Associate Member, together with his colleague Mr. Benny Vaknin, the Mayor of Ashkelon. Membership in Israel now stands at 55 cities.
In Japan membership now counts 901 members total. With 7 new members, Japan has by far most members of Mayors for Peace.
The Mayor of Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, is also amongst the new supporters of the fast growing network of local governments making a stand against cities being considered targets of nuclear mass destruction. Mayors for Peace now now counts 104 of the world's capital cities amongst its membership.
New members are from El Salvador (1), France (1), Ghana (2), Greece (2), Israel (7), Italy (1), Japan (7), Kenya (1), Latvia (2), Netherlands (1), Norway (2), Paraguay (1), Philippines (1), Republic of Korea (1), Russia (13), Sweden (2), UK (1) and USA (3).
Awards
The Government of Nepal has decided to confer the first Gautam Buddha International Peace Award jointly to the mayors of Hiroshima, Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, and Nagasaki, Mr. Tomihisa Taue, based on the unanimous recommendation of the Management and Selection Committee of the Award, recognizing their achievements for peace as the leaders of Mayors for Peace. The Award ceremony will be held in Lumbini, Nepal on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti on May 17, 2011.
The Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University recognized the work of Mayor Akiba with a Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award. The Award Presentation Ceremony was held in Hiroshima on January 5, 2011.
(*) Municipal reform: Note that the city of Näfels was incorporated into Glarus Nord, decreasing the member cities in Switzerland by one.
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