Nuclear Abolition Flame lit in Hiroshima – brought back to New Zealand

01.09.09 - Wellington - Alyn Ware

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).

Alyn Ware
Alyn Ware is International Representative for Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace and Consultant for the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms. He served as Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy from 1992-1999, coordinating the World Court Project campaign on the ICJ Advisory Opinion on legal status of nuclear weapons, and was a volunteer for Greenpeace New Zealand in 1985, showing public over the Rainbow Warrior when it was in Auckland Harbour.