Affirming the Role of Cities In Achievement of a Peaceful World Free of Nuclear Weapons By 2020
Adopted at the 77th Annual Meeting in 2009
WHEREAS, as long as nuclear weapons exist, cities around the world will be vulnerable to instantaneous devastation on a scale exceeding even that experienced by Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945; and
WHEREAS, the United States Conference of Mayors 2004 resolution unanimously calling on the 2005 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT)to commence negotiation on the elimination of nuclear weapons was not heeded; and
WHEREAS, on April 5, 2009 in Prague, President Barack Obama stated, "One nuclear weapon exploded in one city-be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague-could kill hundreds of thousands of people. and 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 went on to declare the commitment of the United States to "seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons;" and
WHEREAS, the October 2007 Final Declaration of the 2nd World Congress of United Cities and Local Governments noted, "that for the first time in the history of humankind, the majority of the world's population now resides in cities," embraced the Mayors for Peace "Cities Are Not Targets!" demand, and endorsed "the Mayors for Peace campaign, which lobbies the international community to renounce weapons of mass destruction;" and
WHEREAS, the United States Conference of Mayors, in 2007, unanimously adopted a resolution "calling on all nations and all world powers to prohibit the use of any weapon of mass destruction against cities;" and in 2008 unanimously adopted a resolution in support of the global elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020, recommending that the U.S. Government urgently consider the Mayors for Peace "Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol" as a direct means of fulfilling the promise of the NPT by the year 2020, thereby meeting the 1996 finding by the International Court of Justice that all states are obligated to "pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control;" and
WHEREAS, the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, established in June 2008 as a joint initiative of the Australian and Japanese Governments, aims to reinvigorate international efforts on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, in the context of both the 2010 NPT Review Conference and beyond, and to that end will publish a major report no later than January 2010; and has already held public meetings in Sydney, Washington, Santiago, and Beijing, and will hold public meetings later this year in Moscow and Hiroshima;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors urges the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament to adopt 2020 as the target date for the achievement of a nuclear-weapon-free world, and calls upon the Commission to recognize the importance of city and citizen level movements for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and to incorporate in its report the contribution these movements can make to the achievement of a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors welcomes enthusiastically the new leadership and multilateralism that the United States is demonstrating toward achievement of a nuclear-weapon-free world, and calls on President Obama to announce at the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference the initiation of good faith multilateral negotiations on an international agreement to abolish nuclear weapons by the year 2020; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors agrees to take up this matter at the 2010 June Conference of Mayors in Oklahoma City.