The city hall supported initiative, organized through San Paolo’s Secretariat for Participation and Partnership (SMPP), was preceded by an ecumenical event attended by the Mayor Mr. Gilberto Kassab, the Secretary of Participation and Partnership, Mr. Ricardo Montoro, and other authorities. During the ceremony, the town council launched the second phase of the “Voluntary Arms Surrender Campaign”, during which the Municipal Civil Guard will open 31 new points spread throughout the city to facilitate the collection of voluntarily surrendered arms.

“I believe in actions such as this, that remind us of the necessity to demonstrate a pro-peace and anti-violence attitude in everything we do,” stated Mr. Ricardo Montoro, Secretary of Participation and Partnership.

The World March for Peace and Non-Violence is an initiative of “World Without Wars”, an international not-for-profit organization supported by hundreds of other entities and endorsed by personalities around the world, from presidents, film stars and sports celebrities to Nobel Prize winners. The “International Day of Non-Violence” is globally observed on October 2nd, the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth. On this date, a large number of events are scheduled to take place in more than 300 cities around the world.

October 2nd marks the beginning of the 3-month long voyage around the world undertaken by the international, multi-ethnic, World March team. The route begins in Wellington, New Zealand and will cross six continents before culminating at the foot of Mount Aconcagua, Argentina, on January 2nd, 2010. In each stop along the way, this international base team will be greeted by a local committee and participate in activities such as concerts, ecumenical events and symbolic walks organized to celebrate their arrival.

The base team is expected to arrive in Recife, Brazil on December 16th, and from there travel to Salvador (BA), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Sao Paulo (SP), Curitiba (PR), Florianopolis (SC) and Porto Alegre (RS). “As our contribution to the biggest pacifist mobilization in history, we are organizing a large number of activities in favor of peace to take place when the base team passes through Brazil”, says journalist Alexandre Sammogini, World March spokesman in Brazil. In a recent ceremony in remembrance of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Mr. Sammogini represented the World March Brazilian team in Japan.

For more information concerning the World March for Peace and Non-violence:


Voluntary Arms Surrender Campaign:

To obtain information concerning the collection point nearest their home and for general information, citizens can call 153 toll free or visit the Town Hall website www.prefeitura.sp.gov.br

“Now it is possible to surrender firearms in police precincts throughout Brazil. The support of Sao Paulo’s Town Council plays an important role to this initiative, as citizens of the city will have more options to hand in their firearms”, says Melina Risso, director of Sou da Paz Institute.

During the next few weeks itinerant collection points will be set up in different parts of the city.

HOW TO SURRENDER A FIREARM:

– Any citizen is allowed to surrender a firearm;

– The firearm can be unregistered;

– The buyback program pays from R$ 110 to R$ 300, depending on the type of the firearm;

– The citizen surrendering the firearm will not be questioned about its origin;

– The firearm will be destroyed immediately upon receipt, in order to prevent its return to the streets.

The procedure to surrender a firearm is as follows:

– The gun owner is required to have a firearms permit that will allow him to carry the firearm to the collection point. This permit can be obtained via the Federal Police website (http://www.dpf.gov.br) or can be picked up personally in one of the collection points. Important advisory: The permit is valid for one day only.

– Once the permit has been acquired, the gun owner must take the permit and the unloaded firearm to the collection point. Wrapping the firearm in newspaper or placing it apart from the ammunition in a shoe box is the advised method of preparing the weapon for surrender.

– At the collection point, the person handing over the arm will receive a copy of the compensation form, which shall be kept as receipt.

– For further information: call toll free 153 or access the website: www.prefeitura.sp.gov.br.

*(Translation: Janete Inamini, Edition: Jenni Lukac)*