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The 8th Executive Conference of Mayors for Peace in Granollers, Spain
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Mayors for Peace
holds its General Conference once every four years, and in the interim holds its
Executive Conference. The 8th Executive Conference for Mayors for Peace was held in Granollers,
Spain on November 9 and 10 last year. Conference participants deliberated and took decisions on
future initiatives and the holding of the 2013 General Conference in Hiroshima, and also held wide-ranging
discussions on future operational methods and other topics. The General and Board of
Directors Meeting of the 2020 Vision Campaign Association was held in conjunction with the
Executive Conference, and participants discussed the future plans of the 2020 Vision Campaign.
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【Participating Cities】
Hiroshima (Japan), Nagasaki (Japan), Granollers
(Spain), Biograd na Moru (Croatia), Halabja
(Iraq), Hannover (Germany), Malakoff (France),
Manchester (UK), Volgograd (Russia), Ypres
(Belgium), and Fongo Tongo (Cameroon)
【Items Deliberated and Decided】
| ① |
Develop a grass-roots petition drive
conducted by all member cities calling for
the start of negotiations on a nuclear
weapons convention.
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| ② |
Effective communication of requests and/or
statements calling for a world free from
nuclear weapons.
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Representatives of participating cities
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| ③ |
Commemorate the 5000-city milestone with a new a-bomb poster exhibit available to all
member cities. The poster exhibit will be held in Vienna at the same time as the 1st meeting of
the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 NPT Review Conference in 2012.
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| ④ |
Invite disarmament ambassadors from each nation, UN officials, and others to the Mayors for
Peace General Conference in Hiroshima in 2013.
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| ⑤ |
Identify celebrities and other opinion leaders who support the 2020 Vision and appoint them to
serve as 2020 Vision Ambassadors.
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In conclusion, the Resolution toward the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons and the Final Communiqué
were adopted. The Resolution was sent to all member cities in addition to nuclear weapon states,
states suspected of developing or possessing nuclear weapons, and the United Nations, and the
Final Communiqué was sent to all member cities.
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Executive Conference
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【Discussion Points】
| ① |
Holding Executive Conferences in Hiroshima or Nagasaki |
| ② |
Managing the cost of operating Mayors for Peace |
| ③ |
Establishing national or regional chapters, and roles and responsibilities for activities in each region |
With a view to strengthening the financial base
in particular, an international committee of
representatives from existing secretariats and
member cities will be set up and the initial
meeting will be held in Hannover.
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Mayor of Hiroshima visits Barcelona and Geneva to ask for cooperation in Mayors for Peace activities
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November 10
After the Executive Conference, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui visited the United Cities and Local
Governments (UCLG) headquarters in Barcelona, Spain, where he met with Secretary General
Josep Roig and requested a further strengthening of ties with Mayors for Peace.
This was followed by a visit to the Government of Catalonia, where Mayor Matsui met with
President Artur Mas. He asked for understanding and cooperation in the Mayors for Peace
activities, and urged the President to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to see for himself the reality of
the atomic bomb damage.
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November 11
Mayor Matsui visited the headquarters of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
in Geneva, Switzerland, where he met with
President Jakob Kellenberger. In light of
President Jakob Kellenberger's statement in April
2010 saying it is "difficult to envisage how any
use of nuclear weapons could be compatible
with the rules of international humanitarian law,"
Mayor Matsui said that the direction which
Mayors for Peace and the Red Cross were
taking was the same and he would like to
promote further cooperation.
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With President Jakob Kellenberger (front right) of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
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(Peace and International Solidarity Promotion Division)
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