Report by Sean Morris, UK & Ireland Mayors for Peace Chapter Secretary
The UK and Ireland Mayors, Provosts and Leaders for Peace Chapter held a webinar on the 3rd July to provide its member authorities and NGO groups with a progress report and to allow a discussion on how to commemorate important summer peace anniversaries. The meeting was the first opportunity, since the Covid-19 outbreak had created a lockdown of activity across the UK and Ireland, to discuss the development of Mayors for Peace.
The Chapter Secretary Sean Morris gave a detailed progress report on local, national, European and global Mayors for Peace activity. This included an appeal made to members to support local events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre and the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic weapon attacks. Sean’s colleague Elena Tompkins provided a presentation on her 10 days placement earlier in the year working within the Hiroshima Mayors for Peace Secretariat and understanding how it presents the message of the hibakusha. Chrissie Waite and Juli Hammersley of Peace Partners concluded the webinar by providing a case study of their peace education programme which they have delivered with councils, schools, public institutions and community groups.
There are plans to hold a follow-up Chapter webinar in the autumn and to cooperate within other lead cities as the European Chapter of Mayors for Peace develops later this year.
Weblink for presentations from the Chapter webinar (hosted on the NFLA website):
https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/presentations/uk-ireland-mayors-provosts-and-leaders-for-peace-seminar-3-july-2020/
Remember Srebrenica website:
https://www.srebrenica.org.uk/