Support for the Elimination of All Nuclear Weapons By the Year 2020
Adopted at the 76th Annual Meeting in 2008
WHEREAS, U.S. Conference of Mayors President Akron Mayor Donald M. Plusquellic led a delegation of U.S. mayors to the Conference of Mayors organized by Mayors for Peace, held at the United Nations in New York during the 2005 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference; and
WHEREAS, despite the recommendation of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Administration did not seek a decision by the 2005 NPT Review Conference to launch negotiations on the elimination of nuclear weapons, and the conference ended in failure; and
WHEREAS, since that time there have been no new agreed-upon measures in the field of nuclear disarmament; and
WHEREAS, contrary to its NPT obligation, in force since 1970 to'?pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, '? the United States is modernizing its nuclear weapons research and manufacturing complex to expand production capability and is developing new delivery systems;and
WHEREAS, the 2007 World Congress of United Cities and Local Governments endorsed '?the Mayors for Peace campaign, which lobbies the international community to renounce weapons of mass destruction;'? and
WHEREAS, chemical and biological weapons have been outlawed under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention; and
WHEREAS, there is no technical or economic obstacle to the elimination of all nuclear weapons by the year 2020, and because cities and the entire world should not be held at risk of nuclear attack any longer than absolutely unavoidable; and
WHEREAS, Mayors for Peace has organized European delegations to and activities at the first two Preparatory Committee meetings for the 2010 NPT Review Conference, unveiling the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol for a nuclear-weapons-free world by the year 2020 at the most recent meeting in Geneva,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors encourages its members to participate in the delegation and activities being organized by Mayors for Peace at the third NPT Review Conference Preparatory Committee Meeting in New York in May 2009; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors encourages its members to sign the Cities Appeal being circulated in support of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol and to encourage other elected officials in their cities to do likewise; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors recommends that the United States Government urgently consider the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol as a direct means of fulfilling the promise of the NPT by the year 2020, thereby meeting the obligation found by the International Court of Justice in 1996'?to conclude negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control'?;and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors agrees to take up this matter at the 2009 June Conference of Mayors in Providence, Rhode Island.