A New Horizon for Peace: Promote a culture of peace
On July 7, 2021, the "Vision for Peaceful Transformation to a Sustainable World (PX Vision)" was adopted at the Executive Conference of Mayors for Peace, held online. It replaces the former 2020 Vision. This was the very day four years ago that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted.
In this new Vision, a new target was set: to "promote a culture of peace". In the Peace Declaration made by Hiroshima Mayor Matsui (President of Mayors for Peace) on August 6 2021, the mayor spoke about the need to promote a worldwide "culture of peace" and create an environment to encourage a policy shift among world leaders. He stated that if the determination to live in peace sweeps through civil society, who elect our leaders, and people renounce nuclear weapons, which symbolize human violence, we will take a definite step towards achieving a nuclear weapon-free world. This is a succinct summary of the significance of the new Vision, including "Promote a culture of peace", which is a more fundamental objective for civil society.
A key pillar in the vision up until now was "Realize a world without nuclear weapons". This is a task that needs to be undertaken by all humankind. The second pillar of the vision was "Realize safe and resilient cities", which focused on initiatives taken by each region to address a variety of different issues. Compared with these, the new pillar of "Promote a culture of peace" includes the meaning of peace on a global scale while at the same time emphasizing the importance of efforts by each individual citizen in their daily lives. In that light, "Promote a culture of peace" contains various meanings; anyone can possess their unique "culture of peace" within themselves. To "promote" this does not mean doing anything in particular that is different from what has been done up until now.
For example, "Promote a culture of peace" could refer to a hibakusha who has been speaking about his/her A-bomb experience based on the wish that "No one else should ever suffer as we have." As a more familiar example, people who pursue their own happiness, or pursue their family's peace and happiness could also be said to be implementing a wonderful promotion of a culture of peace. This is because such acts all lead to the creation of peace. In this way, promoting a culture of peace constitutes peace activities that can be conducted by anyone in any city, regardless of race, gender or age. This is why this new vision paves the way for a new horizon for peace.
Mayors for Peace was started on June 24, 1982, at the United Nations General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament when the then-Hiroshima Mayor Araki called on the cities of the world to work in solidarity with each other across borders, and forge a path together for the abolition of nuclear weapons. This came to fruition in 1985 with the holding of the 1st World Conference of Mayors for Peace through Inter-City Solidarity. In 2022, Mayors for Peace will celebrate its 40th anniversary. Taking this opportunity, Mayors for Peace will loudly proclaim the target of "Promote a culture of peace", aiming for a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons.