Draft City Council resolutions in support of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol

This page is meant to help Mayors and City Councilors (and other elected local authority representatives) who would like to support the Cities Appeal but are prevented from doing so by city rules or statutes. 

In some cases, city officials are not allowed to use their official titles in support of public statements without the Council's approval.  The first draft resolution addresses that situation.  In other cases, only
the City Council can act on behalf of the city.  The second draft resolution can be used in that case.

Please download copies of the Sample Resolution to authorize signing of the Cities Appeal here
and the Sample Resolution to endorse the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol here.

If other circumstances apply in your city, please consult directly with the Campaign Secretariat in Ypres.

These texts are for the moment only available here in English and in Spanish on our Spanish website. Apologies that we do not have these texts available in more languages at this time.  If this presents an obstacle to you, please check back in one week's time.

(1) Sample Resolution to authorize signing of the Cities Appeal in the name of the City

Whereas the universal prohibition of nuclear weapons is an urgent priority;

Whereas the States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) are currently reviewing the Treaty and should take action to fulfill its promise of nuclear disarmament;

Whereas Mayors for Peace has advanced the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol as a means of achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world by the year 2020 within the framework of the NPT ;

Whereas local government representatives in [find current number] cities from [find current number] countries and regions have used the Cities Appeal to express their united support for the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol;


Be it resolved that Mayor [Name] is thereby authorized to sign the Cities Appeal in the name of [City].

(2) Sample Resolution to endorse the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol (modeled on the Cities Appeal)

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;

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;”

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;”

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;”

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;

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

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;

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

Be it, therefore, resolved to:

-- Call upon all citizens to contribute to the preparations for the UN Decade for Disarmament;

-- Pledge to do our utmost to ensure that it will be a decisive decade for nuclear disarmament;

-- Call 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, urge [Title and Name of your Head of Government] 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;

-- Recommend 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;”

-- Challenge 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 to inform Mayors for Peace of this resolution at an early date.