CALLING FOR EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY DISARMAMENT OBLIGATION AND REDIRECTION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS SPENDING TO MEET THE NEEDS OF CITIES
WHEREAS, August 6 and 9, 2015 will mark the 70th anniversaries of the United States atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and
WHEREAS, in January 2015 The Bulleting of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of its Doomsday Clock to three minutes to midnight citing the “extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity:” posed by “unchecked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernizations, and outsized nuclear arsenals,” and failure of world leaders to act; and
WHEREAS, according to the Congressional Budget Office, over the next decade the U.S. plans to spend $348 billion to maintain and modernize its nuclear forces; and
WHEREAS, at the conclusion of the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, the U.S. and the other nuclear-weapon states reaffirmed their “unequivocal undertaking…to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals” pursuant to Article VI of the Treaty, and agreed to “convene a conference in 2012…on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction;” and
WHEREAS, Mayors for Peace continues to aim for the global elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020, and its membership has grown to 6,706 cities in 160 countries, with 204 U.S. cities; and
WHEREAS, the needs of America’s cities can only be met by adopting new priorities to create a just and sustainable economy, infrastructure and environment, and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the President and Congress to reduce nuclear weapons spending to the minimum necessary to assure the safety and security of the existing weapons as they await disablement and dismantlement, and to direct those funds to address the pressing needs of cities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors reaffirms its call on the U.S. government to support commencement of a process to negotiate the global prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons, and calls on the United Nations to affirm that plans and preparations to use nuclear weapons constitute a threat to the peace; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors expresses its support for the successful conclusion of negotiations with Iran on a comprehensive nuclear deal and urges the U.S. government to support the convening of a conference on establishing a Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass destruction at the earliest possible date; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors reaffirms its support for Mayors for Peace and its “2020 Vision” and joins Mayors for Peace in urging the policymakers of the world, especially from nuclear-armed states, to visit the atomic bombed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as soon as possible to see the reality of the atomic bombings for themselves and listen to the survivors’ appeal for peace and disarmament.