Please scroll down this page for information about: events to mark the Convention on Cluster Munitions entry into force (1 August), and a peace sermon; Hiroshima and Nagasaki Day commemorations (6 and 9 August); Peace Sunday (8 August); and the International Day of the World's Indigenous People (9 August).

If you are planning something to mark any of these days and would like your event advertised on the page, please send the details to Peace Movement Aotearoa.

If you would like to have white poppies available at your Hiroshima and Nagasaki Day commemoration or at your place of worship on Peace Sunday, please email by Monday, 2 August. All donations for white poppies go to the White Poppy Peace Scholarships.

Sunday, 1 August

• Beat the drum to ban cluster bombs! celebrating the Convention on Cluster Munitions entry into force, Wellington: Starting in Wellington, this historic day will be marked with events around the world to beat the drum and welcome the arrival of the international ban on cluster bombs. The drumming session led by local musician Sam Manzanza starts at 12 noon, and there is a special preview screening of a new 20-minute film on New Zealand's role in the banning of cluster bombs at 1pm - all at Capital E Theatre, Civic Square, Wellington. Hosted by the Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition (ANZCMC), a campaign of 23 non-governmental organizations, this celebratory event is open to everyone. Kids are especially welcome! A flyer for this event is available here, you can RSVP via Facebook here and view the list of international events here. More information about the ANZCMC is on this site.

• Peace sermon, Wellington: Revd Dr Jonathan Hartfield, Chairperson of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, will be speaking during Choral Evensong, 5pm at the Cathedral of St Paul, corner Hill and Molesworth Streets, Thorndon, Wellington. Information about the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship is available here.

Tuesday, 3 August

• A debate of ballistic proportions, Auckland: the inaugural student-run debate on nuclear disarmament, commemorating the bombing of Hiroshima and marking the 25th anniversary of David Lange's address to the Oxford Union. Moot - "This house believes the abolition of nuclear weapons is a pipe-dream". Negative: Jacinda Ardern (Member of Parliament, Labour Party), Max Harris (president of the UoA Debating Society), Lyndon Burford (postgraduate student, completing a PhD on disarmament issues); affirmative: Treasa Dunworth (public international law lecturer, LLB(hons), LLM (Harvard)), Curwen Rolinson (undergraduate student, Law and Asian Studies), Akif Malik (executive member, UoA Debating Society). "25 years ago, David Lange astonished New Zealanders and the world by arguing the proposition that "nuclear weapons are morally indefensible". Since then, the appetite for nuclear arms has been increasingly suppressed by calls for global disarmament. With Presidents Obama and Medvedev concluding a treaty to further downsize their nuclear arsenals, as well as a growing number of states calling for the elimination of nuclear arms, the world appears to be making positive progress towards disarmament. But can the human race completely liberate itself from the grip of nuclear arms? Is the total abolition of nuclear weapons a mere pipe-dream? Come and find out. Questions and answers will follow the debate so come along with some hard questions. Brought to you by AUSA International Affairs Office, the United Nations Youth Association of NZ, and the Peace Foundation (Note: the views expressed in this debate do not represent the official views of the organisations and institutions represented)." Starts 7pm, Lecture Theatre 260 098, University of Auckland Business School, Auckland; for more information, please contact email.

Friday, 6 August

• Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration, Christchurch: with music including the Japanese choir, and speaker Natasha Barnes who attended the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Review conference as part of the Government delegation, she was the youth representative and is a member of WILPF. Starts 5 pm in Victoria Square, Christchurch, lantern floating at 5.30 pm. Organised by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), Otautahi Branch, and Christchurch Quakers, for more information please contact email.

Sunday, 8 August

• 65th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemoration, Wellington: with speakers the Hon. Mayor of Wellington, Kerry Prendergast; Grant Robertson, MP; Ms Akane Sandom, student at Kapiti College; and Charles Chauvel, MP. Comment from those attending the Commemoration is encouraged. Starts at 1.30pm, at the Peace Flame in the Rose Garden, Botanic Gardens, Wellington (if the weather is inclement, the commemoration will be held in the Begonia House foyer). Organised by the Peace Council Aotearoa New Zealand, for more information please contact email.

• Candle Floating Ceremony to commemorate Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Auckland: you are warmly invited to this commemoration which includes crane-making, readings and music; candles will be supplied. From 5pm to 7pm at the Auckland Domain Wintergarden. Organised by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Tamaki Makaurau Branch; for more information please contact email or email.

• Peace Sunday, national resources

  • "Peace Sunday is celebrated on the nearest Sunday to Hiroshima Day (August 6). This year it falls closest to Nagasaki Day (August 9), the site of the second nuclear bomb drop. We invite you to remember the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 (see earlier resources here) by praying for peace. Please join with others to pray for those who still suffer the effects of nuclear testing, including the workers of Moruroa and their families (see last year's resources). As we remember the millions of people caught up in conflicts not of their making, the plight of child soldiers, let us speak out for peace." - from Christian World Service's Peace Sunday Worship Resources.

  • Caritas's introduction to Catholic social teaching on peace and non-violence is another useful resource to consider for Peace Sunday.

  • If you would like white poppies available at your place of worship on Peace Sunday, please email by Monday, 2 August. All donations for white poppies go to the White Poppy Peace Scholarships.

Monday, 9 August

• International Day of the World's Indigenous People (IDWIP), international: in 1994, the UN General Assembly declared that the International Day of the World's Indigenous People would be observed on 9 August each year, the date marks the day of the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 1982. The Day is celebrated around the world by indigenous peoples and their allies, and at the UN Headquarters in New York - the theme of the observance at UN Headquarters this year, organised by the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in cooperation with the NGO Committee on the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, is celebrating indigenous film making. More information about IDWIP is available here.