Council Report_Mayors for Peace_Karla Braigt , 1V~ayoz•s foz• Peace
~ ~ ~~ ~
'~ f ' ~ ~ Secretariat
4, f C/O Hiroshima Peace Culfure Foundation, 1-2 Nakajima-cho Naka-ku Hiroshima 730-0811 Japan
r - Phone:81-82-242-7821 Fax:81-82-242-7452 E-mail:mayorcon@pcf.city.hiroshima.jp
June 2008
Dear Fellow Mayor,
I trust this letter finds you well.
I am writing today to invite you to join Mayors for Peace, an organization led by the cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As you may know, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were instantly obliterated by atomic
bombings in August 1945. Hundreds of thousands of precious lives were lost. To avoid any
repetition of this horrifying tragedy, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have worked
continuously to communicate to the world the inhumanity of the atomic bomb and the need to
abolish nuclear weapons.
Mayors for Peace was founded iu 1982 by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to promote
the total elimination of nuclear weapons and the realization of genuine and lasting world peace.
Today, we are a category II international non-governmental organization accredited by the
United Nations with 2,277 member cities in 129 countries and regions.
hi any war, especially nuclear war, it is cities that suffer most. We mayors are duty-bound to
protect our citizens, and to prevent the unimaginable tragedy of a nuclear attack, we must work
together to eliminate all nuclear weapons. Therefore, Mayors for Peace are now conducting a
"2020 Vision Campaign" with the goal of total nuclear weapons abolition by the year 2020, the
75t" anniversary of the atomic bombings.
To strengthen this campaign, we need as many cities as possible to join our organization. For
more information about Mayors for Peace and our campaign, please visit our website at:
http:/Iwww.ma orsforpeace.org/.
Membership involves no annual dues. However, we are now calling for our member cities,
foundations, like-minded corporations, and individuals to contribute funds for promoting the
2020 Vision Campaign. I hope you will consider not only joining us, but also contributing to
our campaign. To join, simply fill in and sign the attached registration form and return it to us.
I close with my best wishes for your continued good health and sound growth and developments
for your city.
Sincerely yours,
ae~~;
Tadatoshi Akiba
Mayor of Hiroshima
President
Mayors for Peace
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Oct.12008: U.S. membership =128 cities; international membership =2,422 cities in 131 countries
ARKANSAS
Fayetteville ('07)
CALIFORNIA
Berkeley ('88)
Carmel-by-the-Sea i
Compton ('93)
Dublin ('05)
Fairfax ('07)
Fresno ('85)
Irvine ('85)
Long Beach ('05)
Los Angeles ('88)
Lynwood ('93)
Marina ('85)
Oakland ('07)
Palo Alto ('85)
Pleasanton ('07)
Richmond ('07)
Sacramento ('85)
San Francisco ('83)
Santa Barbara ('02)
Santa Cruz ('88)
Saratoga ('85)
Sebastopol ('98)
South Pasadena ('93)
Wasco ('05)
COLORADO
Denver ('00)
CONNECTICUT
Ansonia ('08)
Fairfield ('08)
Hartford ('OS)
Mansfield ('08)
New Haven ('06)
Stamford ('08)
Windham ('08)
DELAWARE
Newark ('08)
FLORIDA
Coral Springs ('07)
Hallandale Beach ('OT
GEORGIA
Albany ('89)
Atlanta ('99)
HAWAII
Hilo ('85)
Honolulu ('83)
Kauai ('92)
ILLINOIS
Berwyn ('07)
Chicago ('08)
Evanston ('08)
Normal ('07)
Oak Lawn ('07)
Oak Park ('07)
Schaumburg ('05)
Urbana ('08)
IOWA
Clinton ('08)
Des Moines ('07)
LOUISIANA
New Orleans ('85)
MAINE
Waterville ('06)
MARYLAND
Baltimore (08)
Takoma Park ('85)
MASSACHUSETTS
Agawam ('06)
Amesbury ('04)
Boston ('05)
Brockton ('08)
Cambridge ('02)
Chicopee ('07)50
Easthampton ('05)
Gloucester ('07)
Greenfield ('05)
Holyoke ('05)
OHIO
Akron ('04)
Brooklyn ('07)
Cleveland ('89)
Dayton ('07)
North Olmsted ('06)
Oberlin ('88)
Westlake ('07)
OREGON
Ashland ('98)
Corvallis ('07)
Eugene ('89)
Lincoln City ('06)
Portland ('88)
PENNSYLVANIA
Harrisburg ('83)
Lancaster ('89)
Philadelphia ('85)
RHODE ISLAND
Providence ('03)
SOUTH CAROLINA
Charleston ('07)
TEXAS
Austin ('89)
Corpus Christi ('89)
Houston ('89)
UTAH
Salt Lake City ('07)
Springdale ('98)
VERMONT
Burlington ('86)
Montpelier ('07)
VIRGINIA
Charlottesville ('07)
Chesapeake ('02)
Portsmouth ('05)
WASHINGTON
Olympia ('06)
Seattle ('89)
Tacoma ('05)
WISCONSIN
Madison ('03)
Milwaukee ('06)
MASSACHUSETTS (cont.)
Leverett ('05)
Lincoln ('05)
Medford ('05)
Newton ('05)
North Adams ('07)
Northampton ('05)
Salem ('07)
West Springfield ('07)
Worcester ('04)
MICHIGAN
Detroit ('00)
Hamtramck ('03)
MINNESOTA
Columbia Heights ('07)
Duluth ('06)
Minneapolis ('84)
Northfield ('06)
Rochester ('05)
Saint Paul ('85)
MISSOURI
Kansas City ('05)
NEVADA
Carson City ('92)
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord ('90)
NEW JERSEY
Hoboken ('98)
Hope Township ('05)
Jersey City (`89)
NEW MEXICO
Santa Fe ('05)
Taos ('07)
Taos Ski Valley ('07)
NEW YORIE
Rochester ('04)
NORTH CAROLINA
Chapel Hill ('06)
Durham ('06)
Louisburg ('07)
Waynesville ('97)
NORTH DAICOTA
Fargo ('08)
Jeju (South-Korea), 31 October 2007 -Today the 2020 Vision Campaign received the
endorsement of the world largest and most widely recognized mayoral association, United
Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). In its final declaration the UCLG supports the Mayors
for Peace campaign to eliminate weapons of mass destruction and calls on all nation states and
armed groups to cease considering cities as military objectives - "cities are not targets."
In his address to the Congress prior to the adoption of the Declaration, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba,
President of Mayors for Peace, stressed, "With that Declaration you will be claiming, on behalf
of the majority of humanity, that cities are no longer passive hostages to the threatened
destruction of our cities. This will be a great milestone. But it is one thing to claim a right, and
another to exercise it." He asserted, "It will take sometime and pressure, but we wiIl take our
seat at the table and our voice will be heard."1
Ban-Ki Moon, UN Secretary General addressed a specially recorded message to the world's
cities, stating that "the future of humanity will depend on the manner in which cities react to the
major challenges posed by globalization."
Paragraph 11 of the Jeju Declaration states: "We recall that the use of convenfional
armaments is at present the cause of unbearable suffering for civil populations. ~Ve
support, moreover the initiative of the Mayors for Peace campaign, which lobbies the
international community to renounce weapons of mass destruction. We call on all nation
states and armed groups to cease considering cities as military objectives - `cities are not
targets'."2
Over 1,800 participants united for the 2nd global meeting of cities and Local governments under
the theme "Changing Cities are driving our world.". The UCLG was founded in 2004 and has
works in an advisory capacity on local government issues for the United Nations. The National
League of Cities is the North 1~merican affiliate of UCLG.
Within the UN system, UCLG is considered the "voice of cities." Since the UN Population
Funds calculates that this year, for the first time in history, the balance between rural and urban
population has shifted in favor of the cities, it can be rightly said that Jeju Declaration speaks on
behalf of the majority of humankind_
Thus, while we strive to reach the membership goal by the end of this year of 2020 Mayors for
the 2020 Vision, we already have garnered the broad support of the entire urban world. This, and
our close cooperation with the UCLG leadership, will greatly strengthen the credibility and
impact of our efforts in the coming years, most particularly within the UN system.
The embrace of the rallying cry, "Cities Are Not Targets!" presents a special opportunity to the
2020 Vision Campaign. Mayors for Peace is well established as ananti-nuclear-weapons
campaign, but this has limited the appeal of the organization to regions of the world that feel
directly threatened by possible nuclear attack. The prospect of conventional attack is far more
pervasive and immediate and thus resonates with a more diverse constituency. Mayors for Peace
looks forward to developing this part of its 2020 Vision Campaign in cooperation with UCLG
and its City Diplomacy Program.
At a Mayors for Peace workshop on the World Congress program, this prospect was discussed in
depth with forty city representatives and mayoral association of&cials from every region of the
globe. Fifteen new cities joined up on the spot and another dozen j oined in the course of the
Congress. The next official tally will show Mayors for Peace membership passing the 1800 mark
as it gathers momentam toward the goal of 2020 by year's end.
' The full text of Mayor Akiba's speech is available at:
http://www.2020visioncampaign.org/pages/310/
a The full text of the Final Declaration is available at:
http://www.cities-localgovernments.org/uclg/index.asp?pag=template.asp&L=EN&ID=280