Road to Peace

At times we have led the country, and even the world, on peace and anti-nuclear issues. Waitaha , the first people of this land, did not know or understand warfare. They brought with them, and applied, the principles of Rongomaraeroa – the Messenger of Peace - laying the foundations for peace.

This list covers most of the key activities and achievements that have happened to date in Christchurch on the road to world peace:

• 1897 Christchurch women involved in the suffrage movement, which won the world's first votes for women in 1893, called for ‘a permanent court of arbitration' to resolve international disputes peacefully. This court was established in 1899 and in 1946 became the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court.

• August 1947 Christchurch first marked the anniversary of the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the early 1960s CND organised marches and speeches. Annually since 1976 lanterns have been floated on the Avon River with speeches by local citizens including politicians, mayors and councillors.

• 1960 The New Zealand Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) was headquartered in Christchurch with Mary Woodward and Elsie Locke in key leadership roles. In 1961, CND urged the New Zealand government to declare it ‘will not acquire or use nuclear weapons' and to withdraw from nuclear alliances such as ANZUS. In 1963, they presented the ‘No Bombs South of the Line' petition to parliament with 80,238 signatures (14,564 from Christchurch) calling on the government to sponsor an international conference to discuss establishing a nuclear-free-zone in the southern hemisphere. It was the biggest petition since the one in 1893 demanding votes for women.

• 1973 The government of Prime Minister Norman Kirk (Sydenham MP) took France to the World Court to try to stop it testing nuclear weapons in the South Pacific. Kirk dispatched the frigate Otago to protest at the Moruroa test site and sent cables to the leaders of 100 countries. He planned to host conferences for the Pacific region and Commonwealth Foreign Ministers to promote a South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone and a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. These were achieved in 1985 and 1996 respectively.

• 1980 The Christchurch Peace Collective helped initiate a national campaign to declare homes, offices, schools, churches, marae, farms, councils and even cars nuclear free zones. They also called for a national nuclear weapon free zone. Larry Ross had promoted this idea in 1963 . From 1981 his New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone Committee coordinated the nuclear free council campaign.

• March 1982 Christchurch became the first New Zealand Nuclear Weapon Free city. Lyttelton was the second nuclear free borough after Devonport, followed closely by Heathcote, Riccarton, Rangiora, Mt Herbert, Akaroa, Malvern, Waiwera and others.

• 1986 Retired magistrate Harold Evans initiated a move to ask the World Court to give an advisory opinion on the legality of nuclear weapons. It grew into an international campaign known as the World Court Project. Nearly 4 million declarations of public conscience (including 32,000 from New Zealand) were presented to the Court and over 700 groups worldwide endorsed the project. 74 members of the Non Aligned Movement co-sponsored a 1994 UN resolution asking for the Opinion. In 1996, the Court advised that the threat or use of nuclear weapons was generally illegal under existing international law, and that the nuclear states were obliged to negotiate for complete nuclear disarmament.

• June 1987 New Zealand became the first country to adopt nuclear free legislation banning visits by nuclear powered and armed vessels. This followed nuclear free declarations by Belau (1979), Vanuatu (1982) and the Solomon Islands (1983).

• During the 1980s, the Christchurch City Council hosted various Peace Festivals, and planted a peace tree to commemorate the UN International Year of Peace in 1986. Up to 40 local groups met monthly to organise activities such as peace vigils and marches, ‘Give Peace a Dance', street theatre, producing newsletters and peace education material, and seminars. They helped develop and run the Environment and Peace Information Centre (EPICENTRE) in the Arts Centre.

• 1991 Protests against the Gulf War.

• 1995 Protests against renewed French nuclear testing.

• 1996 New Zealand co-sponsored a United Nations resolution entitled ‘Nuclear Weapon Free Southern Hemisphere and Adjacent Areas'.

• 1998 At Burnham Military Camp, the Lincoln Agreement was signed between Papua New Guinea and Bougainville leaders, ending their nine-year conflict. The government-facilitated talks resulted in the establishment of an unarmed international Peace Monitoring Group.

• 1999 Christchurch joined 242 local authorities worldwide in supporting a resolution calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Christchurch also belongs to the 512-strong World Conference of Mayors for Peace Through Inter-City Solidarity.

• 2000 T he UN resolution called for an international conference of the signatories to the Latin American (1967), South Pacific (1985), South East Asian (1995) and African (1996) nuclear- weapon-free-zone treaties.

• 2002 To mark the 20 th anniversary of its nuclear free status, the city hosted an exhibition from Hiroshima and Nagasaki which was visited by 20,000 people. The Mayor of Nagasaki also visited to strengthen the relationship between the cities.

• December 2002 Mayor Garry Moore presented Peace Awards to key Christchurch Peace campaigners.

• August 2003 Peace & Friendship Agreement signed with Hiroshima. Click here to view

• 2005 Garry was appointed an Executive of Mayors for Peace and at the 6th General Conference, held in Hiroshima 4 – 6 August 2005, was also nominated and elected to a Vice President. He will represent the Oceania region.

• October 2006 A World Peace Bell, gifted to the city by the World Peace Bell Assoc (WPBA) of Tokyo was unveiled in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. Pavilion for the Bell was gifted by the Chch Chapter of the WPBA after 2 years of fundraising To view pictures of the Bell and the unveiling click here.

• October 2006 The Christchurch City Council and the Christchurch based Peace Foundation Disarmament and Security Centre co-ordinated a project to gift a sculpture (by Kingsley Baird) to the people of Nagasaki for installation in the Nagasaki Peace Park. The Cloak of Peace – Te Korowai Rangimaire, a gift from the people of New Zealand, was unveiled by Minister of Disarmament, the Honorable Phil Goff. The sculpture was funded by the Government and the cities of Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, Napier, Waitakere and Whakatane. Click on this link to view pictures of the unveiling.

• December 2007 Dr Kate Dewes, veteran peace and disarmament campaigner and Coordinator of the Peace Foundation Disarmament & Security Centre in Christchurch, was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to his Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. The Secretary-General chooses 19 Board members from all regions of the world for their knowledge and experience in the field of disarmament and international security.
  
  The Board’s functions are:
  • To advise the Secretary-General on matters within the area of arms limitation and disarmament;
  • To serve as the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), based in Geneva;
  • To advise the Secretary-General on the implementation of the UN Disarmament Information Programme.

She sees her initial two-year appointment as a wonderful opportunity to follow up on the work she did from 2000-2002 as the NZ Government expert on a UN Study on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education.