Launch of Hiroshima/Nagasaki Protocol at UN in Geneva

April 29th, UN Geneva - Today the Mayors for Peace launched the "Hiroshima/Nagasaki Protocol" during the NPT 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 Preparatory Committee meeting (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.

Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of the City of Hiroshima declared: “Will you act in good faith to eliminate these heinous and totally unnecessary threats to our survival, or will you allow them to spread, most certainly to be used?  If you do not move effectively to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020, you will be partially responsible for the nuclear catastrophe I have no doubt will befall us before that date.  I urge you not to underestimate the gravity and urgency of this decision.”
              
With these words, Mayor Akiba set the stage for the introduction of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol, which translates of the 2020 Vision of Mayors for Peace into a specific plan of action for achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world by the year 2020.

Mayor of Ypres, Belgium, Luc Dehaene then challenged the diplomats “to think in terms of the next TWO review cycles, all the way through to 2020.  That year will be the 50th anniversary of the NPT, the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings, and a fitting moment to proclaim that the promise of the Treaty has at long last been fulfilled.”

Belgian Senator Vankrunkelsven (former Mayor and current City Councilor of Laakdal) described how the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol’s target dates correspond to the 2015 and 2020 NPT Review Conferences.  But, he underscored, the Protocol also “requires immediate action: all acquisition activity is to cease immediately and all threats to use nuclear weapons, including preparations to carry out such threats, must also stop.  These bold measures would provide convincing evidence of good faith …”

The Senator concluded the presentation by announcing that, “Over the coming twelve months, mayors around the world will be signing on to a Cities’ Appeal that will ask you to take up the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol in the review process.  In line with our original vision of a Nuclear Weapons Convention being negotiated by 2010, we call for all negotiations envisioned in the Protocol to be complete by the 65th UN General Assembly.  This schedule is tight, but given the global threat underscored by Mayor Akiba, is it not worth an all-out effort?  We think so, and by this time next year, you will see just how intensely mayors and citizens worldwide share that assessment.”

One session of each PrepCom is allocated to presentations by NGOs.  For the full text of Mayors for Peace speeches and the other speeches in this session, please go to the website of the organization that coordinates the presentation: Reaching Critical Will.

Dehaene and Vankrunkelsven were part of a delegation of 27 mayors and city representatives from the European and Mediterranean area, while Mayor Akiba served as the head of delegation.  The delegates met with government officials and participated in NGO meetings sponsored by Mayors for Peace.   The City of Geneva welcomed them with a reception at City Hall attended also by the Chairman of the PrepCom, Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko.


Download here the Hiroshima Nagasaki Protocol
Download here the Cities Appeal

For full text of presentations click: See "Mayor's Statement" For a full report on the activities of the delegation and its participants click here.