Peace laureates publish declaration against nuclear arms

HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) Seventeen winners of the Nobel Peace Prize are calling for a world free of nuclear weapons in a joint declaration that was published Monday in the Chugoku Shimbun in Hiroshima, following U.S. President Barack Obama's recent commitment to eliminate nuclear arms.

The declaration urges people to press their leaders to work toward the abolition of nuclear weapons ahead of a major conference on nuclear nonproliferation in 2010.

The laureates include Northern Ireland peace activist Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Mohamed ElBaradei, the Egyptian chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and American Jody Williams, who has campaigned against the use of land mines.