 |
|
|
|
| Mayors For Peace 2020
Vision Campaign Newsletter |
July
2008 |
|
|
|
|
|
This monthly newsletter is your source for
the latest developments with the 2020 Vision Campaign. Please mail us
an relevant stories you might have. If you have problems reading this
Newsletter properly,
please access
it here.
Thanks to our EVS volunteer Jaira Valenzuela, you can now
also read our latest news on the Spanish version
of the website. The
City of Madrid has kindly offered to help with Spanish translations also. At the moment, we
are in the process of translating the website into French; if you can
help with French translations please contact Véronique
Herbeuval.
In this issue:
|
|
|
|
| Ypres Mayor calls on cities to support
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 On the 24th
July Mayor Luc Dehaene of the city of Ypres, Belgium underscored the
messages of the Dr. Akiba Tadatoshi, Mayor
of Hiroshima, and Taue Tomihase, Mayor of Nagasaki, when he
sent his own appeal to the members of
Mayors for Peace, highlighting the urgent need for international
endorsement of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki
Protocol.
In his appeal,
Mayor Dehaene
declared: “The
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol is now the centerpiece of our 2020 Vision
Campaign, translating our original vision of a world free from
nuclear weapons by the year 2020 into a practical program of action
by governments toward that end.”
As
of the 25th July, the Cities
Appeal has garnered signatories from 17
countries around the world. Included among these are the
cities
of Kathmandu, Nepal (Mayor Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya);
Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago (Mayor Murchison
Brown); Luxembourg City (Mayor Paul Helminger) &
Esch-sur-Alzette,
Luxembourg (Mayor Lydia Mutsch); Stuttgart, Germany
(Deputee Mayor Klaus Peter Murawski); Naarden, The Netherlands (Mayor
J.P. Rehwinkel); Napier,
New Zealand (Mayor Barbara Arnott); Peer, Belgium (Mayor Theo
Kelchtermans); Toronto (Mayor David Miller)
& Hamilton, Canada (Mayor Fred Eisenberger) and
Isfahan, Iran
(Mayor Seid Mortaza Saghaian Nejad).
Please sign and fax the Cities Appeal to +32-57-23
92 76, attn. Mayors for Peace
|
|
|
|
|
|
Publication: Annual Report 2008 Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign |
|
|
|
|
|
We invite you to read the first Annual Report for the Mayors for Peace
2020 Vision Campaign which was published in July.
This 28-page Annual Report 2008 with a review of 2007 and plans for
2008 will show you that the Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign is
well underway.
The report includes Background and Plans; Structure; Activities and
Membership (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, North
America and Oceania); International Campaign; Financial Statements;
Fundraising and Visibility.
Download here the light
version (1,7 MB) or the HighPrintQuality
version (38,4 MB)
|
|
|
|
| City of Bruges
demonstrates unprecedented commitment to the 2020 Vision Campaign |
|
|
|
|
|
As solidarity has climbed, with 88 Cities commiting financial
support to the
2020 Vision Campaign, the Mayors for Peace welcome the unprecedented
commitment from the Belgian City of Bruges.
In a
letter
from Mayor Patrick Moenaert we learned that on June 6th 2007 the
Council of the historic Belgian City 
of Bruges decided to make a firm
annual commitment to the Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign. Mr.
Patrick Moenaert, the Mayor of Bruges, sends his best wishes to all
the members of Mayors for Peace in our common struggle for the
abolition of nuclear weapons. The Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign
is honoured by the solidarity demonstrated by the City and citizens of
Bruges. Starting in 2009 the Council decided to dedicate 0,025
Euro/inhabitant
annually all the way up to 2020 towards the elimination of nuclear
weapons. With 117.000 inhabitants this means 2,925 Euro for 2009, or an
estimated 35,000 total up to 2020.
We underline that the success of the 2020 Vision Campaign is entirely
dependent on the willingness of Mayors for Peace members to provide
financial support. Please find here the draft resolution for
your
City Council. We also have the resolution in Dutch, French, German,
Italian and Spanish. MORE
|
|
|
|
| 82 MEP's endorse total ban on nuclear
weapons marking 40th anniversary NPT |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign co-organized the
launch of a "Parliamentary
endorsement of the Nuclear Weapons Convention" (NWC) during
an International Conference
in the European Parliament in Brussels on the 1st July. The
event
marked the 40th anniversary of the NPT. To date a cross-party group of 82
members of the European Parliament from 19 EU member states
have signed the statement in support of the NWC. Amongst the first
endorsers we find ex-French Prime Minister Michel Rocard, Ms. Frieda
Brepoels and Mr. Raymond Langendries
(PPE-DE, Belgium). Mr. Langendries is also a Mayor of Tubize and member
of Mayors for Peace.
 Ms. Frieda Brepoels (picture) member of the EP conservative group declared during the signing ceremony: "After 40 years it is also for the US, Russia, China, Great-Britain and France the highest time to keep their promises and destroy their entire nuclear arsenal. Nuclear weapons add nothing to a better and more secure world. A majority of people all over the world want a total ban on nuclear weapons. The non proliferation Treaty loses its credibility if the Heads of Government of those countries refuse to negotiate. They carry an enormous responsibility for all the following generations."
Angelica Beer, Greens/EFA Germany, member EP Subcommittee on Security and Defence said: "Only a serious commitment to disarmament provides the moral ground for demanding non-proliferation from others" More
|
|
|
|
| Former UK and Italian
Ministers echo call for a nuclear weapon-free
world |
|
|
|
|
|
The Kissinger, Shultz, Perry and Nunn initiatives published in the
'Wall Street Journal' in January 2007
and 2008
have triggered a significant reponse from some of their counterparts in
Italy and the UK.
On June 30th, "The Times"
(UK) carried an Op-ed
signed by Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Lord
Hurd of Westwell and Lord Owen (all former British foreign secretaries)
and Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (picture), a former
Nato secretary-general, calling for renewed debate in Europe on the
nuclear issue, highlighting the instability of the current world
nuclear situation and underlining the weaknesses of the
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
On July 24th Italy's major
daily, 'Corriere della Sera', published a powerful Op-ed
for the total
elimination of nuclear weapons, signed by Massimo D'Alema
(former
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister),
Gianfranco Fini (former Foreign Minister and current President of
Italian Chamber of Deputies), Giorgio La Malfa (former
Minister
for
European Affairs), Arturo Parisi (former Defence Minister) and
Francesco Calogero (Dept. of Physics, University of Rome and formerly
Secretary General of Pugwash).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Invitation General Conference of Mayors for Peace August 8 - 10 2009 in
Nagasaki
|
|
|
|
|
|
All
our members are invited to take part in the next General Conference of
Mayors for Peace, which is tentatively planned to be held in
Nagasaki,
Japan on the 8th, 9th and 10th of August 2009. The
General Conference meets every four years, with the last one
held in Hiroshima from August 4th to the 9th, 2005.
For
the city of Nagasaki the upcoming Conference will mark the
64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
On the 9th of August,
1945 that
the
United States dropped the second atomic bomb ever used in warfare on
the city, causing untold destruction and killing as many as 80,000
people by the end of that year. The legacy of this
devastation
lives on in the city of Nagasaki, making
their continuous support of Mayors for Peace and the 2020 Vision
Campaign and their hosting of this important event all the more
significant and meaningful. We encourage all member cities to be part
of this historic event. Please block these dates in your agenda.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Membership climbs to 2,317
cities with 40 new members |
|
|
|
|
|
As of June 30th
2008, 40 new member cities had joined Mayors for
Peace . The fast growing network now counts 2,317 member cities in up
to 130 countries. We welcome new
members
from Australia (1), Belgium (1), Bulgaria (1), Bosnia and
Herzegovina
(1), Haiti (2), Iraq (16), Israel (1), Italy (1), Japan (4), Spain (8),
Switzerland (1) UK (2) and USA (1).
Furthermore we
welcome the first members in Haiti. This brings Mayors for Peace
member cities' presence to 130 countries and regions. The
invitation
by Mr. Josep Mayoral, the Mayor of Granollers, and the call of
the Catalan Association of
Municipalities
to join Mayors for Peace in its campaign to abolish nuclear weapons
resulted in 8 new Spanish members. We also need to thank Mr.
Khder Kareem, the Mayor of Halabja (Iraq) who
has been able to bring another 16 new Iraqi Mayors on board in our
common struggle to abolish weapons of mass destruction. Halabja was the
scene of the perverse use of chemical weapons 20 years ago.
Help us to recruit new members by using
the REGISTRATION-FORM
To find the list of all 2,317 members Click
here!
Picture: Mayor Josep Mayoral from Granollers (left) and Mayor Josep
Poblet i Tous from
Vila-seca signing a cross-party appeal for Spanish Mayors to join and
support the campaign
|
|
|
|
|
© 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
BIC (SWIFT code): GKCCBEBB
|
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
|
|