Report provided by Alyn Ware, Global Coordinator of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND)
204 cities in Germany raised the Mayors for Peace nuclear disarmament flag on July 8 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the ICJ case and to promote global nuclear abolition. The Flag day events were coordinated by the City of Hannover, with the support of a number of German non-governmental organizations.
‘We, the Mayors for Peace, are very concerned that there still exist around 16,000 nuclear warheads in the world,’ said Stefan Schostok, Mayor of Hannover and a Vice-President of Mayors for Peace. ‘A world that is increasingly marked by numerous violent conflicts, acts of war and terrorism. A world that seems to go off the rails. In view of the planned deployment of new, technically upgraded nuclear weapons in Europe, it is therefore all the more important that Flag Day draws attention to the goal of a nuclear-free world.’
The Flag Day events also focused on the United Nations Open-ended Working Group on Taking Forward Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Negotiations (OEWG). ‘With the hoisting of the Mayors for Peace banner in front of our City Hall we appeal also to the governments of the world to participate actively and seriously in the OEWG discussions on nuclear disarmament,’ said Mayor Schostok.
>Photos of the event in Hannover
>Photos and movie of the event in Stuttgart
Photos and animations of the event in Köln (Courtesy of Klaus Müller)
Photos of the event in Erfurt (PDF / JPEG)
Related story with a list of participating cities (German Mayors for Peace website, in German)