Report by Ms. Jackie Cabasso, Executive Advisor, Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation
The Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons was established at the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference with the launch of an appeal to the NPT States Parties calling on them to “Initiate immediately and conclude negotiations on a nuclear weapons abolition convention that requires the phased elimination of all nuclear weapons within a timebound framework, with provisions for effective verification and enforcement,” and to undertake a number of other practical measures to end the nuclear arms race, prevent nuclear war, and support the global elimination of nuclear weapons. It also recognizes “the inextricable link between the ‘peaceful’ and warlike uses of nuclear technologies and the threat to future generations inherent in creation and use of long-lived radioactive materials.”
At its 1997 meeting in Te Ao Maohi (French Occupied Polynesia), Abolition 2000 adopted a supplement to its Founding Statement. The Moorea Declaration recognizes that “Colonised and indigenous peoples have, in the large part, borne the brunt of this nuclear devastation – from the mining of uranium and the testing of nuclear weapons on indigenous peoples land, to the dumping, storage and transport of plutonium and nuclear wastes, and the theft of land for nuclear infrastructure.”
During the 2025 NPT PrepCom in May, Abolition 2000 celebrated its 30th anniversary with a public birthday party in Dag Hammerskjöld Plaza, across the street from the UN in New York, featuring 2000 candles arranged in the shape of a giant peace symbol. Earlier this month, Abolition 2000 held its 29th Annual General Meeting online, with participants from around the world. The meeting featured probing and lively intergenerational discussions framed around the current crises in Asia and the Middle East.
Mayors for Peace is an Abolition 2000 affiliated network.
Read the Abolition 2000 Founding Statement at: https://www.abolition2000.org/en/about/founding-statement/
Read the Moorea Declaration at: https://www.abolition2000.org/en/resources/newsreleasesstatements/moorea-declaration/
Read about the Abolition 2000 Annual General Meeting, including reports from Mayors for Peace and the European Chapter of Mayors for Peace at: https://www.abolition2000.org/en/2025-annual-general-meeting-documents/
Photos: courtesy of Ms. Cabasso, Executive Advisor