Resolution Supporting the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol and Authorizing the Mayor to Sign the Mayors for Peace Cities Appeal in Support of the Protocol

Tonight the Nuclear-Free Takoma Park Committee, and Takoma-Park-based advocacy group Beyond Nuclear together requested that the Council adopt a resolution supporting the Mayors for Peace Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol [pdf].

In addition to showing support for the Protocol, the resolution authorizes the Mayor to sign the "Cities Appeal in Support of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol."

Many thanks to Council members Reuben Snipper (Ward 5) and Terry Seamens (Ward 4) for their motion and second, and to Mayor Bruce Williams for his signature on behalf of Takoma Park residents in support of this important push towards a nuclear-weapons-free world!

We will link to the formal resolution; meanwhile here is the text of the resolution unanimously approved today:

Resolution Supporting the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol and Authorizing the Mayor to Sign the Mayors for Peace Cities Appeal in Support of the Protocol

WHEREAS, mindful that according to the United Nations Fund for Population, “In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population will be living in towns and cities”; and that United Cities and Local Governments is recognized by UN agencies as the voice of cities worldwide; and

WHEREAS, taking, in this regard, special note of the support expressed in the 2007 Jeju Declaration of the Second World Congress of United Cities and Local Governments for “the Mayors for Peace campaign, which lobbies the international community to renounce weapons of mass destruction;” and

WHEREAS, noting that while in the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention the prohibition on the acquisition of such weapons of mass destruction applies to all states without exception, in the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) the prohibition on the acquisition of nuclear weapons exempts the five “nuclear-weapons States;” and

WHEREAS, underscoring that the aforementioned 'exemption' was never meant to be permanent as all States were obligated to “pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to ... nuclear disarmament;” and

WHEREAS, recalling that, in 2005, a Mayors for Peace statement based on a resolution of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and signed by 575 mayors worldwide called upon State Parties to the NPT to take a decision to commence negotiation on the elimination of nuclear weapons and weapon-usable fissile material, and that this resolution was presented in the Great Hall of the General Assembly to the NPT Review Conference President; and

WHEREAS, alarmed that not only did the 2005 NPT Review Conference fail to reach agreement on any decisions whatsoever and but also that no negotiations have occurred in the years since to advance the objective of nuclear disarmament; and

WHEREAS, mindful that the elimination of all nuclear weapons by the year 2020 has become more difficult because of this lack of progress and other adverse developments, but convinced that with a rededication to good faith efforts the objective is still achievable; and

WHEREAS, welcoming wholeheartedly the 62nd UN General Assembly decision to begin preparations for a UN Decade for Disarmament, 2010-2020; and

WHEREAS, Mayors for Peace has advanced the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol through the Cities Appeal as a means of achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world by the year 2020 within the framework of the NPT; and

WHEREAS, as of June 19, 2009, local government representatives in 762 cities from 49 countries and regions have used the Cities Appeal to express their united support for the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol; and

WHEREAS, the City of Takoma Park just celebrated the 26th year since adoption of its own Nuclear Free Zone Ordinance.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TAKOMA PARK, MARYLAND:

1. Calls upon all citizens to contribute to the preparations for the UN Decade for Disarmament;

2. Pledges to do our utmost to ensure that it will be a decisive decade for nuclear disarmament;

3. Calls upon the State Parties to the NPT to ensure that the current NPT review process lays the foundation for actual nuclear disarmament during the UN Disarmament Decade and, to that end, urges President Barak Obama to lead the government delegation to the 2010 Review Conference and to include in the delegation at least one representative of this nation’s cities;

4. Recommends for the immediate consideration of all States, not least each of our own, 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 “to conclude negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspect under strict and effective international control;”

5. Challenges all States to adopt the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol without delay and to undertake in good faith to present to the 65th General Assembly in September 2010 the envisioned Nuclear Weapons Convention or Framework Agreement.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT Mayor Williams is authorized to sign the Cities Appeal in the name of the City of Takoma Park.