The Imperative of Dialogue in a Time of Acute Nuclear Dangers
Adopted at the 92nd Annual Meeting in 2024
WHEREAS, an intensifying array of antagonisms among nuclear-armed governments is also occurring in North-East Asia, the South China Sea, South Asia, and the Middle East; and
WHEREAS, even those in nuclear-armed governments at war who do not believe the time is ripe to negotiate the end of hostilities currently underway should recognize the value of talking to their adversaries at every opportunity about limiting the most dangerous of all weapons and ensuring that they will never be used, and should use diplomacy wherever possible to create momentum for the de-escalation of hostilities; and
WHEREAS, as long as nuclear weapons exist, it will always be the right time to be thinking concretely and constructively about how we will eliminate them forever; and
WHEREAS, all nuclear armed states are qualitatively and, in some cases, quantitatively upgrading their nuclear arsenals and a new multipolar arms race is underway; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. planning to spend $2 Trillion over the next 30 years to maintain and modernize its nuclear triad, building new ballistic missile submarines, new silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, a new nuclear cruise missile, a modified gravity bomb, a new stealthy long-range strike bomber, and accompanying warheads for each delivery system, with modified or new plutonium pits; and
WHEREAS, at an April 2024 symposium, National Nuclear Security Administrator (NNSA) Jill Hruby stated: “[T]he reestablishment of pit production capabilities is the largest and most complex infrastructure undertaking at NNSA since shortly after the Manhattan Project,” and “NNSA delivered over 200 modernized nuclear weapons to the Department of Defense this past year, the most since the end of the Cold War”; and
WHEREAS, global military spending in 2023 reached a record high, with the U.S. spending more than the next 9 countries combined; nearly 8-1/2 times more than Russia and 3 times more than China, accounting for 37% of the world total; and
WHEREAS, for decades across Administrations from both parties, federal funding to the military and its support systems, including homeland security and veterans affairs, has taken a majority of the federal government's finite resources; and
WHEREAS, Mayors for Peace, founded in 1982 and led by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is working for a world without nuclear weapons, safe and resilient cities, and a culture of peace, and as of May 1, 2024, has grown to 8,389 cities in 166 countries and territories, with 227 U.S. members; and
WHEREAS, The United States Conference of Mayors has adopted resolutions submitted by U.S. members of Mayors for Peace for 18 consecutive years, in 2023 “Calling for Urgent Action to Avoid Nuclear War, Resolve the Ukraine Conflict, Lower Tensions with China, and Redirect Military Spending to Meet Human Needs.”
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors welcomes the September 10, 2023 Declaration of the G20 Leaders meeting in Delhi, including leaders or foreign ministers of China, France, India, Russia, UK, and U.S., that “The threat of use or use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible”; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors condemns Russia's illegal war of aggression on Ukraine and its repeated nuclear threats and calls on the Russian government to withdraw all forces from Ukraine; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors calls on the President and Congress to continue to maximize diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. government to work to re-establish high-level U.S.-Russian risk reduction and arms control talks to rebuild trust and work toward replacement of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the only remaining bilateral nuclear arms control treaty, set to expire in 2026; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors welcomes National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's June 2023 invitation “to engage Russia now to manage nuclear risks and develop a post-2026 arms control framework,” and “to engage China without preconditions—helping ensure that competition is managed, and that competition does not veer into conflict”; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors encourages our government to pursue any offer made in good faith to negotiate a treaty among nuclear powers barring any country from being the first to use nuclear weapons against one another;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors calls on the government of the United States to make good faith efforts to reduce tensions with the government of the People's Republic of China, seeking opportunities for cooperation on such global issues as the environment, public health, and equitable development, and new approaches for the control of nuclear arms; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors calls on the Administration and Congress to reconsider further investments in nuclear weapons and find ways that our finite federal resources can better meet human needs, support safe and resilient cities, and increase investment in international diplomacy, humanitarian assistance and development, and international cooperation to address the climate crisis; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors calls on member cities to take action at the municipal level to raise public awareness of the growing dangers of wars among nuclear-armed states, the humanitarian and financial impacts of nuclear weapons, and the urgent need for good faith U.S. leadership in negotiating the global elimination of nuclear weapons by, for example, planting seedlings of A-bombed trees, hosting A-bomb poster exhibitions, having mayors speak at local Hiroshima-Nagasaki commemorations, and developing youth leadership by participating in the annual Mayors for Peace Children's Art Competition, “Peaceful Towns; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors encourages all its members to join Mayors for Peace to advance the objectives of the organization and to help it reach its goal of 10,000 members.