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What is the Mayors for Peace?
In August 1945, atomic bombs instantaneously reduced the cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki to rubble, taking hundreds of thousands of precious lives.
Today, more than sixty years after the war, thousands of citizens still
suffer the devastating aftereffects of radiation and unfathomable emotional
pain. To prevent any repetition of the A-bomb tragedy, the cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki have continually sought to tell the world about the inhumane
cruelty of nuclear weapons and have consistently urged that nuclear weapons
be abolished.
On June 24, 1982, at the 2nd UN Special Session on Disarmament held at
UN Headquarters in New York, then Mayor Takeshi Araki of Hiroshima proposed
a new Program to Promote the Solidarity of Cities toward the Total Abolition
of Nuclear Weapons. This proposal offered cities a way to transcend national
borders and work together to press for nuclear abolition. Subsequently,
the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki called on mayors around the world
to support this program.
The Mayors for Peace is composed of cities around the world that have formally
expressed support for the program Mayor Araki announced in 1982. As of Feburary 1, 2012, membership stood at 5,126 cities in 153 countries and regions. In March 1990, the Mayors Conference
was officially registered as a UN NGO related to the Department of Public
Information. In May 1991, it became a Category II NGO(currently called
a NGO in "Special Consultative Status") registered with the Economic
and Social Council. |
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