The President of the United Nations General Assembly Miguel d’Escoto and International World March Coordinator Rafael de la Rubia met on June 16 at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York to discuss the objectives of the World March and its endorsement by the President of the General Assembly.

In the meeting, which lasted more than an hour and took place in a friendly atmosphere of deep mutual understanding, both parties expressed their firm commitment to work together to promote the World March and its goals, which are in agreement with the founding principles of the United Nations.

D’Escoto said he personally supports the World March because he shares the objectives it pursues and the principles it represents. He said he would work to achieve the support of other member nations, as has already happened with Nicaragua, and that he would help in the organization of the March in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Both parties agreed that there must be “zero tolerance” for nuclear arms and that it was indispensable to achieve their complete eradication, one of the main objectives of the World March.

After the meeting, de la Rubia met with the Chinese Mission to the United Nations to explain the goals of the March, discuss China’s endorsement and the possibilities of the March passing through China.

The World March, an historic milestone, is an initiative of World Without Wars, an international organization that promotes nonviolence and works to prevent war.

An international team of marchers will cross the six continents starting on October 2, 2009 — the International Day of Nonviolence — in Wellington, New Zealand, and arriving on January 2, 2010 at Punta de Vacas, Argentina. Thousands of concerts, festivals, forums, and demonstrations are planned to coincide with the March in over 100 countries.

World March endorsers include seven heads of state, among them Michele Bachelet of Chile, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and Cristina Kirchner of Argentina; several Nobel Prize winners, including Rigoberta Manchu and Desmond Tutu, and former US President Jimmy Carter; Queen Rania al-Abdullah of Jordan; and numerous music, film and sports celebrities, such as Yoko Ono, Penelope Cruz, Pedro Almodóvar, and Zubin Mehta. Support also comes from international organizations including Mayors for Peace, Abolition 2000, and national branches of Amnesty International.

The proposals of the World March are nuclear disarmament at a global level, the immediate withdrawal of invading troops, the progressive and proportional reduction of conventional weapons, the renunciation by governments of war as a way to resolve conflicts and the creation of a new global consciousness that recognizes the urgent need to reject all forms of violence and achieve peace.

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