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 Mayors For Peace 2020 Vision Campaign Newsletter May 2008 

Welcome to the First issue Newsletter of Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign. This monthly newsletter will be your source for the latest developments with the 2020 Vision Campaign. Please mail us your stories.

In this issue:
Mayors for Peace launch Hiroshima/Nagasaki Protocol at UN in Geneva

Image GenevaThe Mayors for Peace launched the "Hiroshima/Nagasaki Protocol" during the NPT Preparatory Committee meeting (PrepCom) in Geneva. With the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol Mayors for Peace challenges the NPT diplomats to prepare for a decisive decade for nuclear disarmament. Mayor Akiba Tadatoshi, President of Mayors for Peace, launched the Protocol in his address to the second PrepCom for the 2010 NPT Review Conference.  

Luc Dehaene, Mayor of Ypres and Chair of the Mayors for Peace 2020 VIsion Campaign and Senator Patrik Vankrunklesven went into detail to explain the significance of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Protocol to the review process in which the ambassadors are engaged.  MORE
  Membership climbs to 2,226 cities in 129 countries

In January, we concluded a successful membership-drive reaching our target of 2,020 Mayors for the 2020 Vision. As of May 12th 2008 Mayors for Peace counts 2,226 member cities in 129 countries. This means that since January 28th 2008 we have welcomed 198 new member cities into our fast-growing network. On average 2 new member cities joined us every single day. We are very pleased with these encouraging results as cities get mobilized for the Decisive Decade for Nuclear Disarmament.

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Since January 28th 2008 we have welcomed new members from Australia (2), Belgium (14), Canada (7), Croatia (1), Czech Republic (7), Denmark (5), Equador (1), France (7), Italy (6), Japan (130), Luxembourg (2), Mali (1), Netherlands (3), South Africa (1), Spain (4), Sweden (2), Switzerland (1), USA (2) and Venezuela (2). We wish to thank all the Mayors, Councillors, assistants and peace campaigners who made this happen. We are especially encouraged by the surge in Japan, where Hiroshima and Nagasaki opened up membership for the other Japanese cities in January.

Among the new members in 2008 were the first cities from Somaliland and from Venezuela. From the USA we welcomed the Mayor of Chicago, the third largest US city. We encourage Mayors to recruit the sister-cities. Please consider launching cross-party letters in your region or country. In Belgium such cross-party appeals resulted in 319 member cities on a total of 589. This is 54%.

Help us to recruit new members by using the REGISTRATION-FORM
Find list of all 2,226 members Click here!
  Already 79 cities commit funds for the abolition of nuclear weapons

As of May 22nd 2008 our international campaign received financial commitments from 79 cities. We wish to thank these cities for their generosity. However, we urgently need more cities to step in and demonstrate solidarity with the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign can only succeed with sufficient staff and funding. Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been spending more than 250,000 euros per year on Mayors for Peace activities alone. In a time of economic contraction, Hiroshima and Nagasaki cannot increase this funding to the level required for an effective, global campaign. Thus, the success of the 2020 Vision Campaign is entirely dependent on the willingness of other Mayors for Peace members to provide financial support.image

An increasing number of cities are responding to the letter of the Executive Conference concerning financial support for the 2020 Vision campaign. Today the campaign can count on financial support from 79 cities, including annual contributions of 250,000 euro from the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 2008 we aim to match these annual contributions of the 2 founding cities. With 2,226 members this must be possible.

In 2007 we ran a successful Belgian pilot-project where today most of the 65 Belgian contributing cities use the 0,025 €/inhabitant per year. Most of the time the pledge is for several years, sometimes all the way up to year 2020. 

Following the appeal by the Executive Conference of Mayors for Peace w*e now also register the financial contributions from the Cities of Leihhardt, NSW and Melbourne (Australia), Duncan, BC and Chetwynd, BC (Canada), Koprivnica (Croatia), Malakoff (France), Bloemendaal and Maasgouw (Netherlands), Riudecanyes (Spain), Geneva and Lausanne (Switzerland) and finally Oxford (UK). Special thanks to the Cities of Geneva and Lausanne who are the path-breaking larger cities using the 0,025 €/inhabitant formula. Of course we also appreciate the smaller cities who almost withpout exception use this formula.

Please make this a priority in your city council. We urgently need your support to achieve our goal.
Please find here the draft resolution for your City Council. We also have the resolution in Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish. MORE
First World Conference on City Diplomacy in The Hague June 11 - 13 2008

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Mayors for Peace is participating in the First World Conference on City Diplomacy, 11-13 June 2008 in The Hague organised by UCLG, VNG and the City of The Hague. 

Jozias van Aartsen, Mayor of The Hague and Chair of the UCLG Committee on
City Diplomacy, Peace-building and Human Rights declared: "Wherever they occur, conflicts and the ensuing lack of stability ruin the homes and hopes of men, women and children in the streets of our cities and villages. Therefore, as local governments we have our own important role to play in promoting dialogue, building mutual trust and delivering services, in cooperation with national governments, international organisations and civil society. Together we can make a difference".

Mayors for Peace convenes a workshop on on 12 June on the 2020 Vision Campaign and the "Cities Are Not Targets! project". The Conference takes place in the most appropriate and inspiring environment of the Peace Palace in The Hague. MORE
 Put a banner on your website
Help us publish the membership of your city to Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision campaign. You can download this banner from our website here and ask the City webmaster to put it on a very good visible place on the indexpage of your city website.

image On the day of April 10th 2008 we recorded for the first time over 683 visitors to our website as an increasing number of cities and NGO's put our banner with a link to the 2020 Vision Campaign. In three months time, we tripled the amount of visitors to the 2020 Vision Campaign website. 

We already wish to thank the cities of Fremantle and West Torrens (Australia), Grieskirchen (Austria), Durbuy, Ieper & Laakdal (Belgium), Burnaby, Duncan and Whistler (Canada), Dubrovnik (Croatia), Copenhagen (Denmark), Baden-Baden, Berlin-Lichtenberg, Cölbe and Berlin-Lichtenberg (Germany), Fossacesia (Italy), la Sénia (Spain); and, finally, Akron, Ohio and Northampton, Massachusetts (US). Let us know if your city has also put the banner on the index page of your city. MORE

 Star Wars: support for Czech Mayors


Press-release to Brussels press

Brussels, May 21st 2008 - The Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign sends its solidarity and support to the two young Czechs, Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar, who have been without food for 9 days in an effort to draw attention to the imposition of a US "National Missile Defense" radar on the Czech people.

Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign is deeply concerned that the implementation of this project, including interceptor missile in Poland, is increasing international tensions, generating a new arms race, and is a further step towards the militarization and control of space. Since more than two thirds of Czech citizens are against this project, the 2020 Vision Campaign supports the strikers call for a referendum to decide on this important matter.
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Luc Dehaene, Mayor of Ypres and Chair of the international Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign association declared: "Czech Mayors have asked for our support and it is our duty to stand with them in their efforts to avert growing tensions in Europe. As Mayors we are too often confronted with the results of international power games and military plans, with our cities the potential victims. Time has come for the voice of cities to rise. Cities can no longer be targets for military strategists. It is our duty to protect our cities and citizens and we applaud these brave young people who use the non-violent path of Gandhi to promote a democratic expression of the public will in the Czech Republic". MORE
Invitation next Genral Conference of Mayors for Peace, Nagasaki August 2009

Important invitation to all members Mayors for Peace

All members of Mayors for Peace are invited to attend the next General Conference of Mayors for Peaceimage which is planned in August 2009 in Nagasaki. Of course the 2020 Vision Campaign will be an important item of the deliberations. 

The last General Conference was held in Hiroshima August 4 - 9th 2005.

The General Conference of Mayors for Peace meets every 4 years either in Hiroshima or Nagasaki. MORE
© Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign     

Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign

International secretariat

Ypres City Hall
Grote Markt 34
8900 Ypres,
BELGIUM

Phone  + 32-57-38 89 57
Fax :    +32-57-23 92 76 

E-mail: 2020visioncampaign@ieper.be

Website: http://www.2020visioncampaign.org/ 

Office open :
Mo. - Fr.  9:00 - 17:00
Bankaccount Number 088-2371003-27

IBAN nr.: BE48-0882-3710-0327 
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Ypres is a Peace City and was the first city where chemical weapons were used during the First World War.
Find pictures and more information here