JacksonPM_2Oct09This morning, the World March for Peace and Nonviolence started in New Zealand at the Mahatma Gandhi statue outside Wellington railway station.  The start date of 2 October 2009 marks the 140th anniversary of the peacemaker’s birthday and is also the international day of nonviolence.

One-third* of the 90 countries that the Peace March will pass through are affected by uncleared landmines and unexploded ordnance. The peace marchers will visit a dozen states that have refused to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty and the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions:  China, Egypt, India, Finland, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. Argentina, where the 160,000-kilometre march will end on 2 January, has not yet banned cluster munitions.

Activities including marches, festivals, forums, conferences, and other events are being held in every country visited in support of the Peace March objectives to abolish nuclear weapons, reduce the number of conventional weapons, and seek “the renunciation by governments of the use of war as a means to resolve conflicts.”  Organised by the World Without Wars organisation, part of the Humanist Movement, several anti-landmine and cluster bomb ban supporters have endorsed or are involved in the Peace March including Nobel Peace Laureates Desmond Tutu and Jody Williams, and campaigners in Mexico, Spain, and elsewhere.

Wellington was given the honour of the starting point because of New Zealand’s international reputation as a peaceful nation. The first route of the march followed a new Peace Heritage Walk linking key people and places in New Zealand’s peace history. In February 2008, Wellington hosted a crucial meeting of the Oslo process to ban cluster bombs, during which international campaigners contributed a donation of $5,000 to the Manawa Karioi ecological project. Located at Tapu Te Ranga Marae in Island Bay, where the international delegation of peace marchers is staying, the project will be further developed with a tree-planting tomorrow (3 October).

The launch event was preceded by an event on Rekohu (Chatham Islands), where the Moriori Peace Covenant was reaffirmed in a blessing ceremony for the World Peace March.

* The Peace March will pass through 27 mine/UXO-affected countries: Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Nepal, Niger, North Korea, Senegal, Serbia, South Korea, Turkey, Uganda, Venezuela, and Zambia

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