The 156 new members include Australia (1), Belgium (1), Bosnia and
Herzogovina (2), Cameroon (7), Costa Rica (33), Ecuador (3), France (6),
Iran (1), Japan (64), Malaysia (2), Philippines (1), Portugal (1), Spain
(31), UK (2) and USA (1).

With 3,396 members on December 1st Europe remains the region with most
members (1,849 – 54,44%), followed by Asia (855 – 25,17%). Latin America
and the Caribbean (230 – 6,77%), North-America (225 – 6,62%), Africa
(141 – 4,15%) and Oceania (96 – 2,82%). For the first time Latin-America
and the Caribbean count more members compared to the North-American
region, this while nuclear weapons are a non-issue in the streets of the
first nuclear weapon free zone. A region where small arms are viewed by
many as the real WMD.

The continued growth of Mayors for Peace in Japan is very encouraging
and offers increasing leverage to change the nuclear security policies
promised during the election campaign by representatives of the new
Japanese government.

Following the launch of Mayors for Peace in the Costa Rican national
assembly on November 10th, the surge of membership in Costa Rica,
promises an even stronger leadership of the national government lead by
Nobel Prize laureate Oscar Arias. With its strong support for the
Nuclear Weapons Convention Costa Rica is already viewed by many as the
champion towards a nuclear weapon free world. Costa Rica is also
respected around the world for having abolished its army in 1949 in
order to invest its valuable resources in education, health and
environmental protection.

The results in Costa Rica also high-light the increasing co-operation
between Mayors for Peace and PNND (Parliamentarians for
Non-proliferation and Nuclear Disarmament). As a direct result from the
PNND annual meeting held in New York October 11-12 2009, MP Edine von
Herold invited all 81 Costa Rican Mayors for a launch of Mayors for
Peace 2020 Vision campaign on November 10th. In her letter to the Mayors
she also urged them to join the growing movement of local governments
rallying around “Cities are not targets”. Almost 30 cities were
represented during the meeting where the Mayor of San José and Mayors
for Peace representative Pol DHuyvetter stressed the need to step up
efforts 20 years after the end of the Cold War.

With 34 out of 81 Mayors on board, Costa Rica became one of the
countries with the highest percentage of members (44,44%). New
initiatives were discussed to increase co-operation between local
governments, members of parliament and the national governement. Also
the Costa Rican Association of Cities and Municipalities will be asked
to support the campaign to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020.

Also the further growth in Spain with 31 new members is impressive.
Vice-President Mayoral i Antigas from Granollers organized the first
Spanish conference of Mayors for Peace. At the end of the conference it
was decided to establish a Spanish section of Mayors for Peace to
advance the 2020 Vision campaign in Spain. The Mayor of Granollers
believes that the establishment of Mayors for Peace in Spain was
necessary to continue membership recruitment and fund raising.

Mayors for Peace aims to count 5,000 members during the upcoming NPT Review Conference in May 2010.