Mayors for Peace leadership calls on the world to prepare a “decisive decade”: the UN Disarmament Decade, 2010-2020
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 (see World Congress of Cities supports Mayors for Peace campaign [link])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. (See accompanying article.)
The Executive Committee issued a Communiqué on its meeting and the Florence Declaration. Please feel free to cite and circulate these documents widely.
Florence: new structure created to unleash campaign’s potential
On 21 November in Florence, the Mayors for Peace Executive Conference temporarily adjourned and, without moving from the table, the same mayors and city representatives convened for the first time as members of the new 2020 Vision Campaign Association. It was the Association’s first General Meeting and it had the responsibility to approve the Statues of the Association in conformity with Belgian law; to nominate and elect members of the Association’s Board of Directors, and designate Secretariat officials. All of this was done, and on 22 November the Executive Officials of Mayors for Peace, in their capacity as founding members of the 2020 Vision Campaign, signed the Statutes in a small ceremony in the Palazzo Vecchio.
In essence, nothing more than an Executive ‘subcommittee’ has been created to broaden leadership responsibility for the 2020 Vision Campaign. But more thorough institutional arrangements were necessary for several reasons. First, the grace period during which the International Secretariat of the 2020 Vision Campaign could operate out of the Ypres City Hall without a formal legal status in Belgium was approaching its end. Second, to receive financial contributions from overseas, specific legal requirements had to be fulfilled. Third, the Campaign needed to streamline its decision-making process in order to be able to quickly take advantage of new political opportunities.
The provisions of the Statues ensure that the 2020 Vision Campaign remains under the leadership of Mayors for Peace. Indeed, it was decided that all the aspects of the Association would be subject to the review of the 2009 General Conference, so that all Mayors for Peace members could judge for themselves that the Campaign Association was responsive not only to the Mayors for Peace Executive Conference (who, as in Florence, constitute its membership and hold its annual General Meetings), but also to the entire membership of Mayors for Peace. The possibility of inviting representatives of civil society organizations to be Association members or even serve on the Board was discussed in Florence, but it was decided to defer that question to a later date, perhaps 2009, when the basic operation of the Association had be sufficiently tested.
The foremost challenge facing the Association is to inspire the confidence of Mayors for Peace members generally in the effective direction of the 2020 Vision Campaign and the soundness of its financial operations. The coming years will be a trial period when more and more cities start pitching in and checking up on the overall results. The campaign staff will need to demonstrate strong organizational capacity and the bookkeeper, auditor, and treasurer will need to show sound fiscal policy. As trust grows, we are hoping that the new funds coming from cities will at first match and, by 2010, double the funds currently provided by Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nationally-based fundraising drives among member cities will be conducted in around ten countries in 2008.
Funds will also be sought from grant giving institutions and individuals. Anyone wishing to contribute or to share useful advice on where to go for grants is asked to be in contact with the Ypres Secretariat.
Italian Mayors for Peace convene in Florence, 23 November
Over 150 Italian Mayors and hundreds of supporters gathered in the Salone delle Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio to hear from the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many of them also spoke, as did Vice President Donald Plusquellic of Akron, Ohio, USA. They concluded by endorsing a statement read by Mayor Leonardo Domenici of Florence.
A number of the speakers alluded to a ‘precursor’ of Mayors for Peace: a meeting of Mayors from capitals around the world organized by Florence Mayor Giorgio La Pira in 1955. La Pira recognized the new, extraordinary threat to cities represented not only by nuclear weapons but by modern warfare itself. His work has been an outstanding inspiration to Italian mayors and in the memory of this ‘prophet,’ Mayors for Peace will introduce a global audience to Mayor La Pira’s great vision.
The meeting heard from the Mayors of Aviano and Ghedi, NAMES, who are striving to have the dozens of nuclear weapons deployed at US military airbases in their communities returned to the United States. They spoke about a national campaign “Un Futuro Sensa Atomiche” which they have launched with a coalition of 52 civil society organizations. The aim is to collect 50,000 signatures within six month so that, under Italian law, the Parliament will be required to consider the proposition that Italy should declare itself a nuclear-weapon-free country.
Yet another initiative would take advantage of the Mediterranean Games in June 2009 to bring mayors from that region to Italy to promote the 2020 Vision and possibly the creation of a Mediterranean nuclear-weapon-free zone.
Italy, with 249 members - and growing, is now neck-and-neck with Germany for the greatest number of Mayors for Peace members.
