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UNI Global Union said today that the Nobel Peace Prize committee’s decision to give US President Barack Obama this year’s award shows that peace is “breaking through” and highlights the importance of a nuclear-free world.



"We congratulate President Obama and stand in solidarity with him and his courageous push for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons," said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings. “UNI has launched its ‘Breaking Through for Peace’ campaign to push for the abolition of nuclear weapons and we believe that millions of working people around the globe will join President Obama in his mission to make the world a safer place.”



UNI’s “Breaking Through for Peace Campaign” is part of a joint international campaign against nuclear weapons with Japanese trade union organisation RENGO and GENSUIKIN (Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs), KAKKIN (National Council for Peace and Against Nuclear Weapons) and the International Trade Union Confederation.



The campaign is circulating a petition calling for nuclear disarmament that it will present in May 2010 to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon when the UN meets to review the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).



UNI is holding its World Congress in Nagasaki, Japan, in November 2010. The city was chosen particularly for its significance in the global disarmament movement.



“Nagasaki should be the last city whose people are the victims of a nuclear attack,” Jennings said.



UNI believes the common goal of the world’s working people-- to have a decent job that enables individual and family income security to sustain life, health and happiness in caring societies-- must be built on the bedrock of peace, tolerance and understanding.



In awarding the prize to President Obama for his role in supporting international diplomacy and changing the face of international politics, the Peace Prize committee said it “has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.”



In an historic speech in Prague in April, Obama said that the US is committed “to seek[ing] the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”



You can sign the UNI petition at here