The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) unanimously adopted a strong, comprehensive, new Mayors for Peace resolution at its 80th annual meeting on June 16, 2012. The resolution calls for U.S. leadership in eliminating nuclear weapons (globally) and redirecting nuclear weapons spending to meet the urgent needs of cities. Following is the full text of the resolution.
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CALLING FOR U.S. LEADERSHIP IN GLOBAL ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAWEAPONS AND REDIRECTION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS SPENDING
TO MEET THE URGENT NEEDS OF CITIES
1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
legallybinding international agreement;” and
4. 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 fighterbombers
and heavy bombers, including at NATO bases in Europe, while proceeding with a
modernization of the bombs carried on those planes; and
5. 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
6. 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
7. WHEREAS, the continuing economic crisis is forcing mayors and cities to make ever deeper
cuts in critical public services; and
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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;”
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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.
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Click here for the Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign.
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