Aaron Tovish, Campaign Director, reports

Hiroshima, 13 April: The middle section of the Peace Memorial Museum complex has no ground floor; from its far side you have a virtually unobstructed view into the Peace Memorial Park and beyond to the Atomic Dome.   It was in this open space beneath the Museum that we found protection from the rain and began our photoshoot at ten o’clock in the morning.

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With a surge of new members from Iran, Mayors for Peace went past 5900 last month and this month has continued right past 6000.  The increased membership in Iran is the result of a sustained membership drive by 2020 Vision Campaigner, Shahriar Khateri, and his coworker at the Tehran Peace Museum, Mohammad Rezai, which has pushed membership in Iran up to 183 cities. 

Aaron Tovish, Director of the 2020VC, said, "Linking into the international network of Mayors for Peace is an important means of overcoming the isolation Iran has experienced in recent years.  This is a most welcomed development not just for Mayors for Peace, but for the international community as a whole."

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In the month of March 2014, the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 5 cities of 3 countries, amounting to a total of € 1,200. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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Mayors for Peace Vice-President Donald Plusquellic of Akron, Ohio, USA, was a featured speaker at the Annual Assembly of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament (PNND) in Washington, DC, February 26-27, 2014. PNND, a global network of legislators working cooperatively to reduce the risks of nuclear weapons, prevent proliferation and achieve a safe and secure nuclear-weapons-free world, has a close working relationship with Mayors for Peace.

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In the month of February 2014, the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 5 cities, amounting to a total of € 1,150.  These significant donations were made by our member cities in Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Sweden. 

 We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020. In order to see a complete list of the donations, click here.

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The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco) celebrates the 47^th anniversary of its signing with the commitment from States in the region to continue to promote the ultimate goal of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. All Latin American and Caribbean States are parties to the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which grants the right to use nuclear energy exclusively for peaceful purposes and prohibits and prevents the design, installation, deployment, development and any form of possession of any nuclear weapons in the territories of Latin America and the Caribbean.

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The 2020 Vision Campaign received 10 donations this January from 8 different countries, amounting to a total of € 3,450. We hope that this rate will continue to grow throughout 2014. 

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020. In order to see a complete list of the donations, click here.

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In total we received 23 donations in December, spanning 10 different countries. 

All in all the amount donated reached €12980 in December

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the people behind every single donation made. In order to see a complete list of the donations, click here.

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In total we received 16 donations in November, spanning 8 different countries. Many more will come later this year. We've sent out invoices in October, and we can tell you all that December is looking really good, with contributions from all around the world!

All in all the amount donated reached €5240,82 in November

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the people behind every single donation made. In order to see a complete list of the donations, click here.

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Donostia, Spain, 21 November 2013.  Capping off the day-long “Cities Destroyed by War Meeting”, the Mayors of the Spanish cities Donostia, Guernica, and Granollers signed a declaration on the theme “Cities Are Not Targets!”  Donostia was burn to the ground two hundred years ago by the English and Portuguese forces who expelled the French occupiers; Guernica was mercilessly bombed by Hitler’s Luftwaffe in 1937 (as immortalized by Picasso); and Granollers was bombed by Mussolini’s Aviazione Legionaria a year later.  Plans are in the works to circulate the declaration more widely in Spain and Europe. 

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The Lord Mayor of Manchester and Vice President of Mayors for Peace, Councillor Naeem ul Hassan, reiterated Manchester's commitment to Mayors for Peace at a special civic reception held in Manchester Town Hall. At the reception the Lord Mayor received peace crane garlands from members of Greater Manchester CND, which had been passed to them by the Gensuyiko Hiroshima group from their annual Tokyo - Hiroshima peace walk. These will be given out to schools across Greater Manchester and to other UK Mayors for Peace members.

The event also allowed for the official conferring of the post of Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign Ambassador to Mr Salahuddin Choudhry, former Consul General of Pakistan to the UK and former Chair of Rotary International Manchester branch. Mr Choudhry has agreed to assist Mayors for Peace using his diplomatic experience at the UN and in South Asia, along with supporting relevant fund-raising events.

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In total we received 6 donations in October, spanning 3 different countries. Many more will come later this year. We've sent out invoices in October, and we can tell you all that November is looking really good, with contributions from all around the world!

All in all the amount donated reached €3300 in October

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the people behind every single donation made. In order to see a complete list of the donations, click here.

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The First Committee followed up on the General Assembly’s High Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament by deciding to convene a High-Level International Conference (HLIC) in 2018, at the latest, to review progress in negotiations on a nuclear weapon convention.  The new resolution calls on the Conference on Disarmament (CD) to commence such negotiations, and on the international community to annually commemorate the 26 September date of the High Level Meeting as “International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons” as a means of building public support for good faith negotiations.

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During September we experienced yet another increase in the number of donations and in the total amount raised. In total we received 7 donations, spanning two different countries and one donation of the Art Exhibition held in Belgium. Many more will come later this year.

All in all the amount donated reached €2245

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the people behind every single donation made. In order to see a complete list of the donations, click here.

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The recent General Conference of Mayors for Peace in Hiroshima gave a great boost to the 2020 Vision Campaign.  All four of the projects we had developed in the half-year preceding the General Conference – Cities Are Not Targets!; Good Faith Challenge; “I was her age.”; and Cities’ World Peace Calendar – were incorporated in the organization’s Action Plan for 2013-2017

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 “Make no mistake about it: this is a historic meeting, which will have lasting implications for our present well-being and our shared future.” 
United Nations General Assembly President John Ashe (picture) opening the High-Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament, 26 September 2013

For the seven allotted hours, heads of state and government and foreign ministers spoke nearly non-stop at the first-ever high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on nuclear disarmament -- and with more still not having had their chance to speak, the meeting continued for another hour and a half.  In all, thirteen heads of government and state and thirty-six foreign ministers addressed the gathering.  Altogether, there were 74 speakers; the final two spoke on behalf of civil society, a new precedent for high-level meetings of the General Assembly.

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During August we experienced yet another increase in the number of donations and in the total amount raised. In total we received 5 donations, spanning two different countries and one donation of the Art Exhibition held in Belgium. Many more will come later this year.

All in all the amount donated reached €1442.5

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the people behind every single donation made. In order to see a complete list of the donations, click here.

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(Geneva) 30 August – On Friday, the Open Ended Working Group (OEGW) on nuclear disarmament adopted, without a vote, a report summarising the “proposals made and discussions held” during its meetings in May, June and August 2013. 

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(Geneva) 19 August 2013 – Mayors for Peace’s poster exhibition commemorating the 5,000-city milestone is on display at the United Nations Office in Geneva, outside the meeting rooms where the Open Ended Working Group (OEGW), mandated to develop concrete proposals “to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations,” is currently holding its final segment, 19-30 August.   The nineteen posters in the Exhibit aim at raising awareness for the abolition of nuclear weapons by providing information about the reality of the atomic bomb damage in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the prospect of catastrophic climate disruption following a nuclear war, even a “limited” one. 

More information about Mayors for Peace 5,000 Milestone Exhibit can be found here.

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Every year the Vredesoverleg in city of Ghent commemorates the victims of the nuclear bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which took place on August 6 and 9 1945. 
The city not only commemorate the hundred of thousands of victims, but also wishes that this terrible weapon is never used again. This is only possible in a world without nuclear weapons. 

Unfortunately a majority of the nuclear weapons states are modernizing their stockpiles. Even in Belgium there is still about 20 US nuclear weapons as part of NATO's deterrence strategy. But the Belgian government stated in its coalition agreement that it wishes to work towards a ban of nuclear weapons. This event will hopefully remind the Belgian government of that promise. 

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During July we experienced yet another increase in the number of donations and in the total amount raised. In total we received 53 donations, spanning four different countries and two individual donations. The donations range from €100 to €5.000.

All in all the amount donated reached €16.551,55. Germany contributed the most, nearly donating 47 percent of the entire amount. 

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the people behind every single donation made. In order to see a complete list of the donations, click here.

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In June we received donations from 3 countries, in total 44 cities paid!!

In total, 15148,41 euro was contributed to the campaign. We hope this trend will continue the coming months, when we will send out more invoices. We would like to thank all the contributing cities for their ongoing support and generosity. 

Click here to see the cities who paid.

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To promote a successful world summit on nuclear disarmament, the Chairman of the 2020 Vision Campaign and the President of Mayors for Peace have written to over 180 governments.

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(Geneva) 27 June 2013 – Delegations participating in the Open Ended Working Group (OEGW) on nuclear disarmament began to circulate “working papers” in preparation to its last round of meetings in August, in which the group will have to develop concrete proposals “to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations.”

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Mayors for Peace congratulates the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) for its unanimous adoption of a bold resolution “Calling for U.S. Leadership in Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and Redirection of Military Spending to Domestic Needs.” The resolution, passed by the Conference on June 24 at its 81^st Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, calls for constructive U.S. engagement in new international disarmament forums and reorientation of U.S. national priorities by reducing military spending and redirecting those funds to meet the needs of cities.

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In May we received donations from 4 countries, in total 31 cities paid!!

In total, 11400 euro was contributed to the campaign. We hope this trend will continue the coming months, when we will send out more invoices. We would like to thank all the contributing cities for their ongoing support and generosity.

Click here to see the cities who paid.

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San Jose (Costa Rica), May 22nd 2013 – Today the President of the National Union of Local Governments signed a letter of intention with Mayors for Peace. The agreement of co-operation was signed during an event in the Costa Rican capital which also featured a presentation by Ward Wilson about the five myths of nuclear weapons. The event was initiated by Ms. Edine von Herold, a former Member of Parliament and 2020 Vision Campaigner in Costa Rica.

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Mexico City, May 20^th 2013 – Mayor Thore Vestby, Vice President of the Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign, was welcomed by two Mexican Associations of Local Governments during a series of events to promote Mayors for Peace. The visit to Mexico offered the opportunity to raise awareness of the global threat of nuclear weapons. The visit of Mayor Vestby also created the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the Mexican Mayors concerning the increased armed violence in Mexico. The proliferation of small weapons and gang violence has resulted in the murder of 38 Mexican mayors and more than 60,000 people during the past six years. The brutal violence has put public security at the top of the political agenda of both the national and local governments.

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Geneva, Switzerland.  Aaron Tovish, International Campaign Director, and Esteban Ramirez, UN Representative, attended the start of the Open Ended Working Group (OEGW) on nuclear disarmament set up by the United Nations General Assembly amidst growing frustration with the ongoing paralysis of the Conference on Disarmament and insufficient progress towards the achievement of a world free of nuclear weapons. 

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"I believe in the importance of making this issue as broad as possible politically, in order to gather support from all parties from left to right" 

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In the month of April 2013 the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 4 cities of 4 countries, amounting to a total of € 4,383.65. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

Significant donations were made by our member cities in Belgium, Germany, Canada and USA.

We hope that this positive trend continues for the rest of 2013.

» Read more about it» List of contributing cities April 2013

We are very pleased to announce the completion of the 2013 Progress Report for the 2020 Vision Campaign.

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Bogota, April 9 2013 - More than one million people gathered in a march in the Colombian capital Bogota to celebrate the Day for Peace, Democracy and Defense of the Public Interest. Its main purpose was to strengthen the peace process, with the dialogue currently taking place in Havana between the Colombian government and the FARC. April 9th marks a symbolic date in the history of violence in Colombia. 65 years ago, in the wake of slain political leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. The violence left nearly 300,000 Colombians killed.

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In the month of March 2013 the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 10 cities of 4 countries, amounting to a total of € 2.361,74. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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Thomas Mathew is the first 2020 Vision Campaigner for Mayors for Peace in India. Special mention has to be made of his instrumental role in recruiting Cochin as the first Associate City for the 2020 Vision Campaign in South Asia.

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New York, 13-14 March 2013 - Representatives of the Global Network on Safer Cities (GNSC) gathered in New York City to establish a global agenda for a safer future in the cities of the world. The meeting concluded on the idea that a “change in mentalities and strategies” was necessary. In this perspective, Joan Clos, UN-Habitat Executive Director, underlined that this new trend was to include the need to“recover street life” in order to create safer spaces. He quoted the examples of Bogota and San Salvador, two cities where specific action plans noticeably reduced the cases of violence.

According to the Mayor of Bogota, who also attended the meeting, the key to success is to focus safety policies on “social inclusion, poverty eradication and human rights” in order to fight violence from its source, rather than implement policies “based on repression and violation of human rights”. Following the same idea, the Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, called on participants to focus on prevention and guarantee that “police forces not only enforce the law but also obey it”.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway invited all the states in the world to a conference addressing the dreadful humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. 127 countries gathered for two days of practical and scientific consideration of the matter.  The absence of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (‘the P5’) – who possess 95% of the world nuclear weapons – was noted with disapproval, while the presence of nuclear-armed India and Pakistan was welcomed. I was also invited along with a large delegation from ICAN (see accompanying article) and several religious leaders

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Executive Member Mayor Thore Vestby and Mayors for Peace staff participated in the conference of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear meeting in Oslo which preceded the governmental conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapon use.  At the ICAN’s ‘marketplace’ the Mayors for Peace team invited conference participants to check whether their city was a member of Mayors for Peace:  if not, they were provided with materials to recruit their mayor; if so, ideas for engaging in peace activities with City Hall were discussed.  A 2020 Vision Campaign poster exhibit, featuring a 3-D display, was also on view.

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Mayors for Peace welcomed 2013 with a very important and noteworthy achievement: Cochin became the first Associate City for the 2020 Vision Campaign in South Asia. One of the UN Representatives of the 2020 Vision Campaign, Merryl George, during a visit to India met with the Mayor of Cochin, Mr Tony Chammany, and presented the proposal of Cochin becoming an Associate City for the 2020 Vision Campaign.

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The UK & Ireland Mayors for Peace Working Group held its latest meeting on the 18th February in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. A good attendance of member authorities and NGOs working on the nuclear weapons issue took part in the discussion. 

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In the month of February 2013 the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 9 cities of 6 countries, amounting to a total of € 2.494,74. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has polarised opinion for nearly 70 years . . .

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Mayors for Peace North American Coordinator Jackie Cabasso addressed the International Affairs Committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) at its annual winter meeting in Washington, DC on January 18.  Citing rising international tensions, huge financial expenditures, and recent studies showing that even a very limited nuclear exchange could lead to global famine, she stressed the urgent need to abolish nuclear weapons. On the positive side, she reported on encouraging developments in the United Nations and the continuing growth of Mayors for Peace.

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In the month of January 2013 the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 13 cities of 4 countries, amounting to a total of € 5.290,93. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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Santiago de Chile, January 28th 2013 -  Mayors for Peace welcomes the renewed commitment of the 33 Heads of State of Latin America and the Caribbean to work towards a world free of nuclear weapons. The leaders reaffirmed the priority objective to reach a world free of nuclear weapons in the Santiago Declaration adopted today. The regional summit emphasized “the commitment to participate actively and share a common position at the High Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament, to be held in New York City, on 26 September 2013.”

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In the month of December 2012 the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 11 cities of 6 countries, amounting to a total of € 4.163,97. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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The nuclear threat to cities in particular and the world in general has faded from public and governmental consciousness since the end of the Cold War. This undermines the urgency with which governments work on eliminating the threat, thereby increasing the exposure of cities and the world to the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons use. An excellent initiative by the Norwegian Government, with the support of 34 countries, aims to challenge this complacency by revisiting the devastation of the Cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and by reviewing the state of scientific inquiry into the impact of nuclear war on the global climate, and the consequence that might follow.
Click here to go directly to the Action Alert

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Berlin, November 27^th 2012 - The U.N. Association of Germany will award this year's Otto Hahn Peace Medal In Gold to former Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba for his contributions to global peace.  Akiba  (70) was noted for his continued calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons and promotion of peace while he was a mayor that "broke new ground by undertaking his work on nuclear disarmament on a local level," the UN Association of Germany said today.  The branch said Akiba made outstanding efforts toward nuclear disarmament as mayor of Hiroshima and president of Mayors for Peace, an international organization of cities for the promotion of peace.

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Since March 2011, The Syrian capital of Damascus and regional cities such as Aleppo, Daraa, Homs, Idlib have been turned into battlegrounds for conflicts between the rebels and forces of Syrian government and also suffered attacks by terrorists.  In several cities including Damascus, there have been bombardments, causing an unknown number of casualties. To escape the violence, an estimated 200,000 refugees have fled to neighboring countries.  We strongly condemn subjecting innocent residents to incessant gunfire and bombardment and forcing them to flee for safety.  We urge all parties concerned to make their best effort to end this situation immediately.

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Hiroshima, December 4th 2012 - Today Mr. Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima and President of Mayors for Peace, send a message of support to Mr. Gustavo Petro, the Mayor of Bogota.

Last September Mr. Gustavo Preto launched a new network of Mayors and Governors for Peace in Colombia in order to involve local governments in the peace process through dialogue to put an end to the internal armed conflict which has raged in Colombia for decades.

Mayors for Peace has been invited to the next meeting of Mayors and Governors for Peace planned for next January 2013 in the City of Santa Marta.

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Hiroshima, December 1st 2012 - All the 16 members of the Association Of Municipalities of the Planalto (AMPLA) were officially registered today as new members of Mayors for Peace. The Planalto is a region in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, bringing total membership in Brazil up to 95.

On December 1st a total of 47 new members were welcomed: Argentina (1), Brazil (16), Germany (1), Iceland (1), Iran (3), Japan (7), Madagascar (1), Mexico (11), Netherlands (3), Philippines (1) and Spain (2), bringing total membership to 5,490 members in 155 countries and regions.

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In the month of November the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 12 cities of 6 countries, amounting to a total of € 3199,66. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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Our 2020 Vision Campaigner Shahriar Khateri is the cheif author of this article, which appears in the Middle East Research and Information Project.

It was February 1987, at the front lines near Khorramshahr, in the south of Iran along the Iraqi border. We had been engaged in heavy battles for over a week. Our troops had penetrated fortified Iraqi positions, and the Iraqis were making us pay: Artillery and mortar shells rained down on us with a vengeance, as did bombs from Iraqi planes.

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Brasilia, November 21st 2012 - During a meeting at the Brazilian Presidential Palace, the Palacio de Planalto. 1,000 Hiroshima Peace Cranes and a letter of the ICAN Hiroshima Youth Committee were delivered to President Dilma Rousseff. The 1,000 Hiroshima Peace Cranes delivery in Brazil is part of a global Paper Crane project of the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear weapons (ICAN). All the heads of state receive the 1,000 Peace Cranes with a letter of the Hiroshima Youth mobilizing support for the Nuclear Weapons Convention.

In Brazil the Hiroshima message was delivered by Ambassador Sergio Duarte, former UN High Representative on Disarmament Affairs, and Pol Heanna DHuyvetter, Executive Advisor for Mayors for Peace. They were received by Ambassador Guilherme Patriota, Special Adviser of President Dilma, Mr. Olavo Noleto Alves, Subdirector of Federal Affairs of President Dilma and Ms. Ana Carolina Lorena, Advisor for International Affairs at the Presidential Palace.

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Neither of the new resolutions, in itself, is earthshaking; it is the combination of the two which is so promising.  The 2020 Vision Campaign is proud of its contributions to the development of both these resolutions.

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Panama City, November 9th 2012 - Today the Association of Municipalities of Panama (AMUPA) and Mayors for Peace entered an agreement of co-operation. In the agreement AMUPA and Mayors for Peace ``affirm their determination to work together to free the cities from the scourge of war``, an issue which received special resonance as Panama suffered severe US bombings in December 1989. In the agreement AMUPA declares its full support for the Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign for the total elimination of all nuclear weapons by 2020. AMUPA calls all 75 Mayors from Panama to formally join the movement of Mayors for Peace. An interesting development as Mayors for Peace does not have any member in Panama to date.

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In the month of October the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 9 cities of 5 countries, amounting to a total of € 3902,74. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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Mexico City, October 31st 2012 - During a first meeting with Mr. Sergio Arredondo Olvera, the Secretary General of FENAMM, agreement of co-operation was signed with Mayors for Peace. FENAMM, the National Federation of Municipalities of Mexico, is the largest Association of Local Governments in Mexico with over 1,500 affiliated Mayors. FENAMM, a network of networks, represents local governments mostly affiliated with the PRI, the political party which won the latest national and Local elections.

The Secretary General of FENAMM also handed an invitation for the President of Mayors for Peace to deliver a key-note speech at the next Annual Conference of FENAMM in Guadalajara in May 2013. FENAMM also invited the leaders of many Associations of Local Governments of Latin America and the Caribbean to the conference.

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Mexico City, October 29th 2012 - AALMAC, the Association of Local Authorities of Mexico, invited Mayors for Peace to its XV Anniversary Conference in the City of Mexico. At the start of the conference a message of Mr. Kazumi Matsui, the Mayor of Hiroshima and President of Mayors for Peace, was delivered to Mr. Marcelo Ebrard, the outgoing Mayor of Mexico City. During the AALMAC conference 15 Mexican Mayors joined Mayors for Peace. Plans were also discussed to establish a Mayors for Peace office in Mexico City and involve the 16 district Mayors of the capital city of Mexico. Mr. Miguel Angel Mancera Espinosa will replace Marcelo Ebrard on December 5th as new Mayor of the Federal District.

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On October 19th, Paris City Hall (France) welcomed the General Assembly of AFCDRP (French Association of Cities, Departments and Regions for Peace), the Fernch chapter of Mayors for Peace. Mayors and representatives of 30 French member cities attended this meeting, where a wide range of peace related issues were discussed, including increasing the membership and raising awareness about the urgent need of abolishing nuclear weapons.

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A resolution drafted by Austria, Mexico, and Norway that would have the UN General Assembly establish a Working Group for a nuclear weapon free world, has garnered the sponsorship of 16 countries:

Austria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Mexico,  New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Philippines Slovenia, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.  If adopted in its current form, a Working Group would meet in Geneva for three weeks in 2013 and report back to the General Assembly.  While three weeks falls well short of the non-stop attention this topic so urgently merits and requires, it is a big improvement over the procedural deadlock that has reigned in Geneva for the last FIFTEEN years.  We therefore amend the UNGA Action Alert announced last month to incorporate this very positive development.

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Demonstrating leadership once again, the Heads of Government of Latin America and the Caribbean recently issued a communiqué declaring their strong commitment to work to convene a high-level international meeting on the elimination of nuclear weapons.  Mayors for Peace has adopted this as the new 'gold standard' to which all leaders should aspire. This ACTION ALERT aims to have the NWFZ governments in Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific each adopt on a regional basis this same 'strong commitment.'  To that end the Chairman of the 2020 Vision Campaign has written to all Mayors for Peace member mayors in those regions asking them to take this up with their Head of Government.

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In the month of September the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 8 cities of 4 countries, amounting to a total of € 2190. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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Reykjavik (Iceland), October 8th 2012 - Yoko Ono awarded five peace awards at a ceremony in the capital of Iceland. During the ceremony Mr. Jón Gnarr, the Mayor of Reykjavik, said that his city has a unique position in the world to promote peace and support of the Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign. Reykjavik joined Mayors for Peace on November 1st 2010.

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Bogota, September 28th 2012 - Mr. Gustavo Petro, the Mayor of Bogota convened a meeting of Governors and Mayors for Peace at the City Hall of the Colombian capital. The meeting of 6 governors and 40 mayors greeted the start of the peace negotiations between the Colombian guerrillas and government in Oslo and Havana. The Mayor of Bogota joined Mayors for Peace last August 1st. Mayors for Peace counts 16 members in Colombia.

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On September 18^th, 2012 the sixty-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly will open its gates at the UN Headquarters in New York.  In the weeks to follow, one of the most important points on the agenda will call for the commencement of comprehensive multilateral negotiations towards a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC) in the form of a Resolution called “Follow-up to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons”.

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Brazil, September 4th 2012 - Mr. Tomihisa Taue, the Mayor of Nagasaki and Vice President of Mayors for Peace, visited the cities of Santos (SP), Sao Paulo (SP) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ) from August 28th till September 4th 2012. The visit marked the 40th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Nagasaki and Santos and the 50th anniversary of the Brazilian Nagasaki Prefecture association. Mayor Tomihisa Taue also took the time to meet with the Mayors of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the two largest cities of Brazil with respectively 11,5 million and 6,5 million inhabitants, to discuss the development of Mayors for Peace in Brazil and Latin America. The meetings took place in the midst of the election campaign for Brazilian local governments scheduled for next month.

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In the month of August the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 16 cities of 5 countries, amounting to a total of € 4100. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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30 August 2012 - The following opinion piece by Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon has appeared in leading newspapers in Argentina, Bangladesh, Burundi, China, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, The Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and European weekly publications and has been translated into 10 languages.

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Nagasaki, August 13, 2012 - NPO Peace Depot reports that the  heads of 404 local authorities and two municipal governmental organizations had expressed support for a statement to create a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Northeast Asia. In the last one hundred  days alone the names of more than one hundred leaders were added.

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In the month of June the 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 18 cities of 3 countries, amounting to a total of € 8695. We would like to extend our gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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At the close of its 80th annual meeting in Orlando Florida, on June 16, 2012, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) unanimously adopted a strong, comprehensive, new Mayors for Peace resolution Calling for U.S. Leadership in Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and Redirection of Nuclear Weapons Spending to Meet the Urgent Needs of Cities.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the national association of cities with populations over 30,000. Resolutions adopted at its annual meetings become official USCM policy.

Click here to access the full story, including a list of the sponsoring mayors and a link to the text of the resolution.

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Rio de Janeiro, June 21st, 2012 – Mayors for Peace and ICLEI joined their voices calling for leaders at Rio+20 to redirect 10% military spending to fund social & environmental needs, supporting the international Appeal for “Disarmament for Development”. In front of the `Rio+20 Global Town Hall´ hosted by the State Government of Rio de Janeiro, and across the street from the official Rio+20 Summit, local authorities signed the Appeal in front of a life-sized Tank covered with Bread.

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Rio de Janeiro, June 19th, 2012 – A life-sized Tank covered with Bread at the favela Santa Marta, in the city of Rio, calls attention for governments meeting at the United Nations Conference for Sustainable Development – Rio+20 to redirect 10% of the global annually military expenditures to fight hunger, eradicate extreme poverty, provide better education and healthcare, and to fund urgent environmental programs.

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Belo Horizonte (Brazil), May 17, 2012 – Today the World Mayors Council and the ICLEI World Congress have approved unanimously the Rio+20 Appeal on Disarmament for Sustainable Development. Both global networks of local governments add their voice to Mayors for Peace, calling leaders at the Rio+20 World Summit to set new priorities by redirecting military expenditures towards social and environmental priorities.

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Hiroshima, June 7th 2012 – Two weeks before the start of the Rio+20 Summit Mr. Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima and President of Mayors for Peace has added his signature to the Rio+20 Appeal calling on governments to cut military spending in favor of sustainable development.  Mayors for Peace counts 5,276 member cities in 153 countries and regions, and is the world`s largest network of local governments protecting cities from the scourge of war and mass destruction.

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The Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign welcomes the new IPPNW/PSR study released on April 24th offering compelling scientific evidence that most of the nuclear arsenals in the world —whether large or small—threaten everyone on Earth. The study shows that even a limited nuclear war involving less than half a percent of the world's nuclear arsenals would cause climate disruption that could cause a global famine. The study was presented at the annual Nobel Peace Laureates Summit in Chicago. IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.

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Hiroshima, June 1st 2012 - Mayors for Peace announced that 39 new members officially joined the network during the month of May, bringing membership close to 5,300 members. Today the main international network of local governments protecting cities from mass destruction and war officially counts 5,276 cities in 153 countries and regions.

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The 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 40 cities of 4 countries, coming to a total of € 24 470,07 during the month of May. We would like to extend our gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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The 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 13 cities of 4 countries, coming to a total of € 4830,37 during the month of April. We would like to extend our gratitude to our member cities for their continuing generosity in supporting our efforts to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020.

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The 2020 Vision Campaign received donations from 12 cities of 5 countries, coming to a total of €5.339,63 during the month of March.

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A European delegation of Mayors for Peace received a warm reception in Kazakhstan, opened a new Mayors for Peace office in Semey, and developed plans for activities at the East Kazakhstan Region level and nationally.   The delegation of leading Mayors of the 2020 Vision Campaign and members of its Board of Directors spent four days meeting with city, province, and state officials.

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Vitacura (Chile), March 21st 2012 - The Association of Chilean Municipalities (ACHM) and Mayors for Peace entered an agreement of cooperation during a signing ceremony near the Chilean capital Santiago.

The agreement of cooperation with the ACHM is significant as Chile coordinates the position of the 116 member states of Nuclear Weapon Free Zones during the upcoming NPT PrepCom in Vienna. Chile is also holding the Presidency of the new Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) till January 2013.

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Santiago de Chile, March 20th 2012 - The Executive Bureau of the Federation of Latin American and Caribbean Cities, Municipalities and Local government associations (FLACMA) approved with unanimity a Mayors for Peace motion calling for the Latin American and Caribbean to give ''high priority and assign resources to involve local governments and civil society with the intention to 'convene a High Level conference to discuss and identify the ways and methods to eliminate nuclear weapons as soon as possible.” 

The FLACMA Executive Bureau members also demands ''our governments to recognize at the RIO+20 Conference that disarmament is a  condition towards development; and to coordinate a global plan for disarmament with the goal of achieving the commitments of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); and the necessary funding to satisfy the urgent needs of the local governments and its citizens''.

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Brussels (Belgium), March 1, 2012 - Mr. Michel Cibot, a member of the Board of Directors of Mayors for Peace from the city of Malakoff, represented Mayors for Peace at a conference of the Association Internationales des Maires Francophones (AIMF – International Association of Francophone Mayors).

Mr. Cibot was accompanied by representatives from the International Secretariat in Ypres. Mayors for Peace received an invitation thanks to the Mayor of Montreal, Mr. Gérald Tremblay, who is both vice-president of AIMF and an executive member of Mayors for Peace. Mr. Cibot spoke on behalf of the organisation, setting out its work and objectives and inviting new mayors to join.

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Boca del Rio, March 1st, 2012 - Mayors for Peace was presented in a video message to over 2000 Mayors and City Officials at the Annual Conference of FENAMM (National Federation of Municipalities of Mexico) at Boca del Rio, Mexico. The Conference, jointly organized by FENAMM and the Government of the State of Veracruz from March 1-3, 2012, is considered as the main gathering of local authorities in Mexico.

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On the occasion of SHAPE’2012 in Brussels, organized by the SCK (Study Center for Nuclear Energy in Mol, Belgium) the president of Mayors for Peace Belgium, Ingrid Pira, and the Managing Director of the International Secretariat in Ieper, Matthias Breyne went to the Opening Ceremony of the Conference.

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During the month of February, the 2020 Vision Campaign received a total of €1.392,74, donated by five cities in four different countries.

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Three-quarters of all nations support UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s proposal for a treaty to outlaw and eliminate nuclear weapons, according to a study released today by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Of the 146 nations to have declared their willingness to negotiate a new global disarmament pact, four maintain nuclear stockpiles: China, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

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