On August 5, Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey lit a Nuclear Abolition Torch from the Peace Flame in Hiroshima in preparation for its being carried around the world on the World March for Peace and Nonviolence. Mayor Harvey was in Japan for the annual assembly of Mayors for Peace – an international movement of 3000 cities calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

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Pressenza, Wellington, 2009-09-01

Mayor Harvey has brought the Nuclear Abolition Torch back to Aotearoa for the start of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence on October 2. The flame will then be carried around the world by the marchers before heading to New York for the 2010 Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty – a treaty signed by most countries in the world which includes an obligation to achieve nuclear disarmament. The Nuclear Abolition Flame project calls on people to support the campaign by spreading a virtual flame around the world inspiring action for nuclear disarmament.

Mayra Gomez, a Peace Foundation Wellington Office volunteer, organized the flame-lighting ceremony in Hiroshima as well as another Nuclear Abolition Flame ceremony in Nagasaki next to Te Korowai Rangimarie – the peace sculpture donated by New Zealand to the Nagasaki Peace Park in 2006 (see photo above).

New Zealand coordinator for the World March

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