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An Invitation to the 6th General Conference of Mayors for Peace
Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings
Mayors
for Peace is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) recognized
under the United Nations Charter. As of April 8, 2005, it comprises 912 cities
from 110 countries and territories that support the “Program to Promote the
Solidarity of Cities Toward the Total Abolition of Nuclear Weapons” proposed by
the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in June 1982 at the Second UN Special
Session on Disarmament.
Mayors for Peace seeks to build solidarity
and cooperation among cities and contribute to world peace primarily by raising
global public consciousness regarding the abolition of nuclear weapons. It also
seeks to address collectively the many problems that threaten peaceful
coexistence, including hunger, poverty, human rights abuses, local conflict, and
environmental destruction.
This August we will mark the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In May, the Review Conference of the Parties to
the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will be held
at UN Headquarters in New York. The world will be watching to see whether
we regain momentum toward nuclear disarmament or deepen the current crisis
threatening collapse of the NPT itself.
Mayors for Peace has initiated an emergency
campaign to ban nuclear weapons calling for total elimination of nuclear
weapons by the year 2020, and we are demanding that this NPT Review Conference
mandate resumption of negotiations toward a universal Nuclear Weapons
Convention. At the 6th General Conference of Mayors for Peace, we
will evaluate the results of the NPT Review Conference and discuss the role
Mayors for Peace can play in promoting the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Friends, please visit Hiroshima. Please learn more about what happened
in Hiroshima 60 years ago. Listen to our A-bomb survivors and deepen your
understanding of nuclear weapons as an absolute evil that must never be
used again. Above all, please join our campaign and help to rid the world
of this unnecessary and intolerable threat. I fervently hope that hundreds
of cities around the world will participate in this conference, help to
establish the goals and strategies that will guide Mayors for Peace as
it intensifies its campaign, then work wholeheartedly to strengthen the
solidarity among cities and build a lasting world peace.
I look forward to seeing you in Hiroshima
Sincerely
yours,
Dr.
Tadatoshi Akiba
President
Mayors
for Peace
Mayor of Hiroshima
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