Cities Are Not Targets

Mayors to the defense of cities! Cities, the heart of modern civilization and home to half of humanity, are under threat: -- Cities are not safe in a world where there are weapons of mass destruction. -- Cities are not safe in a world in which the rules of war are inadequate and disrespected. Mayors for Peace demands that the nuclear-armed states of the world each publicly acknowledge that it would be a war crime of the highest order to attack a city with a nuclear weapon or to expose populated areas to radioactive fallout, and to rule out immediately such actions by its armed forces under any circumstances. To be doubly sure that a Hiroshima or a Nagasaki never reoccurs: -- nuclear weapons must be banned; -- cities must be protected from the scourge of war. Mayors for Peace calls for the convening of two international conferences by 2010 on: -- a framework agreement to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world by 2020; -- enhanced rules of war to uphold the inviolability of cities in warfare While these efforts are underway, as gestures of good faith: -- all nuclear-armed states should renounce the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons; -- all land, sea, and air forces should pledge unconditionally not to bombard cities. To these ends, Mayors for Peace seeks the support of: -- the Union of Cities and Local Governments to bring this matter to the United Nations for urgent action. National and regional mayoral associations will be asked in 2007 to adopt Cities Are Not Targets resolutions with a view to advancing the issue at the World Conference of the UCLG in October 2007. -- the great majority of the world’s governments demanding that the United Nations convene these two international conferences. Nuclear-weapon-free zone member states will be asked to provide united leadership at the September 2008 UN General Assembly to ensure adoption of resolutions to these ends. -- civil society organizations and parliamentarians in the nuclear armed-states and their allies to challenge their national leaders to show good faith toward the convening of the international conferences. In the United States, every effort must be made to ensure that this matter is debated in the 2008 federal elections. Resources permitting, Mayors for Peace will send international mayoral delegations to investigate the plight of any city that has been subjected to bombardment. Mayors for Peace will also consistently condemn any reference by public figures that advocate the use of nuclear weapons, particularly against cities. Mayors for Peace is unalterably opposed to terrorist attacks on civilians. The only guarantee that no city will be the victim of nuclear terrorism is the total elimination of all weapons-grade fissile materials.