Spanish Mayors for Peace section founded in Granollers
Over fifty mayors and representatitives of local authorities met in Granollers to discuss the surge of the importance of local governments in the international arena. The mayors issued a final declaration establishing a new section of Mayors for Peace in Spain and endorsing the total elimination of nuclear weapons by recalling the Hiroshima - Nagasaki Protocol.
Tuesday November 3rd 2009 representatives from fifty Spanish municipalities gathered in Granollers to participate in the Mayors for Peace Conference, a meeting organized by the municipality of Granollers, the Federation of Municipalities of Catalonia, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, in collaboration with the Provincial Council of Barcelona and the Catalan Association of Municipalities and Regions.
The Conference served to reflect on the international role of local governments and to urge strong actions in the direction of a total elimination of nuclear weapons.
Granollers led the meeting as a member of the Global Executive Committee of Mayors for Peace. Josep Mayoral, Mayor of Granollers and vice president of Mayors for Peace, argued that cities should have a strategy towards peace and that they should work on it both at the local and at the global stage. Mr Mayoral added that peace can be built through education, dialogue and participation.
The fifty municipalities attending the Conference and the represented institutions called upon the need to strenghten the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and to guarantee an international regulation for the manufacturing and distribution of all types of weapons.
The prominent role that cities are gaining in the field of nuclear disarmament was recalled by mentioning the successfull experience of Mayors for Peace as well as the approval of the Hague Agenda on City Diplomacy and the National Plan for the Alliance of Civilizations, both approved by the Government of Spain.
The Conference also expressed its support for the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol led by Mayors for Peace, which promotes the realization of diplomatic efforts at all levels to achieve nuclear disarmament, and endorsed the call of Nagasaki, agreed at the 7th World Conference of Mayors for Peace: "As mayors, our greatest responsibility is to protect the lives and prosperity of the people we represent".
The result of the Conference was summed up in the Final Declaration, urging to constitute a section of Mayors for Peace within the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, with the aim of contributing to a better understanding and coordination of the "Mayors for Peace Network in Spain" and to promote the accession of new members.
The Final Declaration also included an articulate and strong appeal to the Prime Minister of Spain for the promotion of mechanisms to recognize the role that local governments, and to express the need that in the course of the NPT Review Conference to be held next May, he defends unequivocally the willingness expressed by the European Parliament to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons.
