Campaign Priority: Signature Drive in support of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol
After the launch of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol in May, the leadership of Mayors for Peace has written a series of letters to the membership urging them to sign the Cities Appeal in support of the Hiroshima Nagasaki Protocol (see link below). Mayor Akiba and Mayor Taue of the founding cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as Mayor Dehaene of Ypres, Chairman of the Campaign's Board have stressed that the Protocol will only receive the governmental attention it merits if it first receives broad support from cities. In response, cities from all over the world have officially endorsed the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol by signing the Cities Appeal (see link below).
To achieve our goal, it is vital that we advance a concrete plan that embeds our 2020 Vision in a realistic and relevant framework - the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol serves just this purpose. As a protocol to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), it seeks to challenge national governments to follow through on the commitments they made in the Treaty. Through the Cities Appeal, cities are given a chance to make a stand for that which is most important to them: the security and wellbeing of their citizens.
As Deputy Mayor Klaus-Peter Murawski of Stuttgart (Germany) underscores, endorsement of the Protocol at the local level is especially significant: "The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol, to my eyes, will be an outstanding milestone to the whole process because it shows to the public that decisions of such a wide range are taken seriously by cities and the local level, where the majority of people live. It also makes clear that disarmament is a theme which is deemed worthy to fight for. Low expectations on the side of the governments are not accepted as state of the art and cities stand up to raise them."
The calls from the Mayors of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Ypres have served as a trigger to action for their colleagues around the world. However, all that we have achieved is not enough - we need your continued support, in action as well as allegiance, in order to make the formal presentation of the Cities Appeal at the 2010 NPT Review Conference historic and compelling.
Signature drive target dates (subject to revision -- hopefully upward!)
400 -- UN Day / Disarmament Week, October 24-30 2008
1000 -- Third NPT Preparatory Committee meeting, May 2009
1500 -- General Conference of Mayors for Peace, August 2009
2020 -- UN General Assembly, October 2009
3000 -- NPT Review Conference, May 2010
This is a call to action for all local governments to stand up against these weapons specifically designed to decimate populations like your own. In signing the Cities Appeal you can rise up with us, bringing the resounding call "Cities Are Not Targets!" to the United Nations in 2010.
Sign the Cities Appeal and fax your support now to
List of signatories to the Cities Appeal to date.
Download here the Hiroshima Nagasaki Protocol in:
Catalan
Croatian
Dutch
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish
Download here the Cities Appeal in:
Catalan
Croatian
Dutch
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish
