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Mayors for Peace sticks to goal of 2020 for abolishing nuclear weapons, removes target year for nuclear weapons convention

by Michiko Tanaka, Staff Writer

Mayors for Peace has removed the target year 2015 for concluding a nuclear weapons convention from its “2020 Vision Campaign,” its action plan which seeks the abolition of nuclear weapons by the year 2020. The decision was made during an executive meeting held in Ieper, Belgium on November 12 and 13 since there appears to be no immediate prospect of the nuclear weapon states starting negotiations for such a convention, which they still oppose. But the organization headed by Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui has adopted a resolution which says that it will stick to its goal of seeing all nuclear weapons dismantled by the year 2020 and vows to do its utmost to help realize this aim.

According to the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, which serves as the group’s secretariat, the mayors of 11 executive cities attended the meeting. While removing the target year for concluding a nuclear weapons convention, the participants presented concrete plans to urge the start of negotiations for a convention, including calling on policymakers of the world to visit the A-bombed cities and engaging the general public in broader signature drives. With the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly adopting a resolution which calls for the establishment of a working group to consider effective measures for nuclear disarmament, including legal provisions, the organization will call for accelerating discussion toward this end.

Meanwhile, in order to reinforce its foundation, Mayors for Peace will seek to increase the number of member cities to 10,000 by 2020 and will add interns at its secretariat. Expressing the organization’s strong will to eliminate nuclear weapons, the resolution stresses that all nations should join the U.N. working group. According to Mayors for Peace, its resolution will soon be sent to the U.N. and the governments of the world.

(Originally published on November 14, 2015)

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