UNI calls for peace on anniversary of Nagasaki bombing
UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings called for an end to nuclear war as he spoke today at the Mayors for Peace Conference in Nagasaki, Japan.
Sunday marked the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
"Let Nagaski be the last city on earth where the nuclear bomb was used," Jennings said.
Started in Nagasaki, Mayors for Peace is a group of mayors from over 3,000 cities around the world who are united in the fight for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
As part of its commitment to justice and human rights, UNI is involved in a variety of programs to promote world peace. UNI has chosen Nagasaki as the site of its World Congress in November 2010 to highlight the peace message.
“Yours is a movement which says to all powers that the citizens of the world recognise that nuclear weapons are inhumane and call for their abolition,” Jennings told the conference. “The hopes of UNI Global Union are to see how we can take mutually supportive action.”
Every year UNI receives the Nagasaki peace ambassadors in Nyon, Switzerland. These are Japanese young people who carry a message of nuclear disarmament and a peaceful world to the United Nations in Geneva. This year the local mayor, Daniel Rossellat, is hosting the ambassadors in Nyon this year.
Ahead of the Nagasaki Congress in November, 2010, UNI is joining a peace initiative started by Japanese trade union center Rengo and its members. The goal is to get 10 million signatures on a petition addressed to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that calls for the abolition of the world nuclear arsenal and eternal peace. The UN will hold a conference in New York in May 2010 on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
“Let us together - Mayors for Peace, the global union movement, the people of the world – keep working on the dream of a nuclear arms’ free world,” Jennings said.
Along with working on details for the 2010 UNI World Congress in Nagasaki, Jennings will visit affiliates and speak at union and peace events in Japan throughout the month of August. On Friday, Jennings spoke at the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons 2009 Peace Forum.