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WHEREAS, more
than two decades after the end of the Cold War, nearly 20,000 nuclear weapons,
over 95% of them in the arsenals of the United States and Russia, continue to
pose an intolerable threat to cities and people everywhere; and WHEREAS,
recent studies show that a nuclear war involving no more than 100
Hiroshima-sized bombs used on populated areas—less than 0.5% of the global
nuclear arsenal—could have catastrophic effects on the global climate leading
to a precipitous drop in average surface temperatures, reduction of the ozone
layer, and a shortened agricultural growing season resulting in global famine
leading to the starvation of up to one billion people; and WHEREAS, in
an historic November 2011 resolution, the International Red Cross and Red
Crescent Movement emphasized “the incalculable human suffering that can be
expected to result from any use of nuclear weapons, the lack of any adequate
humanitarian response capacity and the absolute imperative to prevent such
use;” found it “difficult to envisage how any use of nuclear weapons could be
compatible with the rules of international humanitarian law;” and appealed to
all States “to pursue in good faith and conclude with urgency and determination
negotiations to prohibit the use of and completely eliminate nuclear weapons
through a legally binding international agreement;” and WHEREAS,
President Obama rightly said in Prague, “One nuclear weapon exploded in one
city ... no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences
might be—for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our
ultimate survival,” and the 2010 U.S. Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) affirmed,
“It is in the U.S. interest and that of all other nations that the nearly
65-year record of nuclear non-use be extended forever,” the NPR nonetheless
retained the option to initiate nuclear warfare when under conventional attack,
explicitly rejected reducing the high-alert status of Intercontinental
Ballistic Missiles and Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles, and retained the
capability to deploy U.S. nuclear weapons on tactical fighter-bombers and heavy
bombers, including at NATO bases in Europe, while proceeding with a
modernization of the bombs carried on those planes; and WHEREAS,
President Obama submitted a plan to Congress in 2010 projecting investments of well over $185 billion by 2020
to maintain and modernize U.S. nuclear weapons systems, including construction
of new nuclear warhead production facilities and an array of new delivery
systems, and subsequent annual budgets have provided for funding at this level;
and WHEREAS, in
2011, the United States spent $711 billion on its military, 41% of the world
total and twice as much as the next 14 countries combined, including China,
Russia, six NATO allies and three major non-NATO allies; and WHEREAS, the
continuing economic crisis is forcing mayors and cities to make ever deeper
cuts in critical public services; and WHEREAS, cuts
to federal programs such as Community Block Development Grants (CDBGs) and the
Home Investment Partnership program (HOME) have forced cities, local agencies
and non-profits to lay off staff, reduce or eliminate services, delay
infrastructure projects and reduce program benefits to low and moderate income
families; and WHEREAS, the
U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted resolutions in 2004, 2006 and each year
since, expressing strong support for Mayors for Peace, its 2020 Vision Campaign
and its Cities Are Not Targets project, and the 2010 and 2011 resolutions
called for deep cuts in nuclear weapons spending and redirection of those funds
to meet the needs of cities; and WHEREAS, the
U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a second resolution at its 2011 annual
meeting, “Calling on Congress to Redirect Military Spending to Domestic Needs;”
and WHEREAS,
Mayors for Peace announced on September 21, 2011, the United Nations (UN)
International Day of Peace, that its membership had surpassed 5000 and now has
over 5250 cities in 153 countries and regions, including more than half of the
world’s capital cities and over 190 U.S. members; and WHEREAS, in
his address to the 2011 U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recognized the importance of Mayors for Peace and
the support of the USCM, declaring, “I welcome the resolution you will adopt at
this conference, in particular its reiteration of support for my five-point
[nuclear disarmament] plan,” and concluding, “The road to peace and progress
runs through the world’s cities and towns;” NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors
reaffirms its call on the President of the United States to work with the
leaders of the other nuclear armed states to implement the UN
Secretary-General’s Five Point Proposal for Nuclear Disarmament forthwith, so
that a Nuclear Weapons Convention or a comparable framework of mutually
reinforcing legal instruments can be agreed upon and implemented by 2020, as
urged by Mayors for Peace; and BE IT
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on Congress to
terminate funding for modernization of nuclear warheads, delivery systems, and
production facilities, to slash spending on nuclear weapons well below Cold War
levels, and to redirect those funds to meet the urgent needs of cities; and BE IT
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls for the
withdrawal of all tactical U.S. nuclear weapons from foreign soil and the
immediate standing down of all nuclear forces on high-alert as steps to ensure
that non-use of nuclear weapons is extended until global non-possession is
achieved; and BE IT
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on its members to
raise public awareness about the ongoing dangers and costs of nuclear weapons
by organizing public displays of the “5000 Member Milestone” Hiroshima –
Nagasaki poster exhibitions in their City Halls, and encourages its members to
join Mayors for Peace Executive City Montreal’s “Minute of Silence – Moment of
Peace” global initiative by observing a minute of silence at 12 noon on
September 21, 2012, the UN International Day of Peace, and posting photos and
videos of events in their cities to a dedicated internet platform; and BE IT
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors expresses its
continuing support for Mayors for Peace; pledges to continue assisting in the
recruitment of new members; and supports USCM representation at General
Conferences of Mayors for Peace in Hiroshima and Nagasaki every four years and
annual Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign General Meetings; and BE IT
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors agrees to take up this
matter at its 81st Annual Meeting in June 2013, and that mayors shall remain
engaged in this matter until cities and citizens throughout the world are no
longer under the threat of nuclear annihilation, whether by accident, design or
by global famine resulting from catastrophic climate change caused by a limited
nuclear exchange wherever it may occur in the world. |
RESOLUTION ADOPTED JUNE 2012