Mayors for Peace
Secretariat
C/O Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, 1-5 Nakajima-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima 730-0811 Japan
Phone: +81-82-242-7821 Fax: +81-82-242-7452 E-mail: mayorcon@pcf.city.hiroshima.jp
URL: http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/index.html

Open Letter from Mayors for Peace to NPT States Parties
On behalf of Mayors for Peace, a global non-governmental organization with 8,059 member cities,
we are writing to express our views prior to the NPT Review Conference that will open next
January in New York.
We urge all participants to recall the solemn historical circumstances facing this conference. The
use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki had catastrophic humanitarian consequences.
World leaders recognized then that a new global institution was needed to replace the League ofNations, which failed to prevent World War II. They created the UN to maintain international
peace and security and the General Assembly’s first resolution set the goal of nuclear disarmament,
which became a legal obligation of NPT Parties in 1970.
We wish to convey our deep concern over recent developments that seriously jeopardize prospects
for achieving the great disarmament goals of this treaty, especially those found in Article VI:• With new nuclear arms races underway, and tensions between nuclear-armed States rising tolevels not seen for decades, the danger of nuclear war, by accident, miscalculation or design, isreal and growing. These tensions are at their highest since the Cold War.
• We are dismayed that over the 51 years since the treaty entered into force, the nuclear-weapon
States have not even begun to outline how they will jointly negotiate to eliminate their nuclearweapons, despite the treaty’s requirement for such negotiations in good faith.
• In the face of a tragic pandemic and the global economic disruption it has caused, we are deeply
disappointed that vast military expenditures are continuing to grow, while basic human needs
and the special needs of cities remain unaddressed.
Given these concerns, we must go back to the very basics, and reaffirm our collective duty topursue the human ideal of a peaceful world without nuclear weapons. Now is the time to do so andhere what is most needed:• We strongly encourage States Parties to address directly the real face of nuclear weapons—
their catastrophic humanitarian impact—and to make this defining aspect of these weapons asubject for discussion at the Review Conference and an urgent priority to promote throughpublic education.
• We call on the States Parties to reaffirm all disarmament commitments made in the NPT(Article VI and preamble) and the consensus final outcome documents of the 1995 review andextension conference and the 2000 and 2010 Review Conferences. We further urge the States
Parties to undertake a collective pledge to take concrete measures to implement thesecommitments within a designated time frame.
• We urge the States Parties to examine the implications of the dangerous and immoral doctrineof nuclear deterrence for the future of the treaty, especially Articles I and VI. We also believethat technological innovation has made nuclear weapons and deterrence an even greater threat
to humanity and that it is long overdue for an NPT Review Conference to undertake acomprehensive discussion of such weapons and their associated doctrine.

• We believe that nuclear risk reduction measures are legitimate only when they are tied toconcrete progress in disarmament. We call on the nuclear-weapon States to implement
initiatives to make substantial and concrete progress aimed at reducing the risk of nuclear
weapons use, as referred to in the “P5 Conference Paris, 2-3 December, 2021 Final Joint
communiqué.”• We urge the States Parties to recognize that the prohibition norm of the TPNW is indispensablein fully implementing Article VI and that the two treaties are fully compatible and mutually
reinforcing.
Mayors for Peace hopes and expects that the States Parties will be able to achieve a consensus on
the Final Document at this particular Review Conference. We remain a firm supporter of the NPT
and extend our best wishes for a successful Review Conference in overcoming old obstacles andinspiring a brighter future for all.

December 13, 2021
Mayors for Peace
President
Mayor of Hiroshima, Japan
Vice president Mayor of Nagasaki, Japan
Vice president Mayor of Hannover, Germany
Vice president Mayor of Volgograd, Russia
Vice president Mayor of Malakoff, France
Vice president Mayor of Muntinlupa, Philippines
Vice president Lord Mayor of Manchester, U.K.
Vice president Mayor of Ypres, Belgium
Vice president Mayor of Biograd na Moru, Croatia
Vice president Mayor of Granollers, Spain
Vice president Mayor of Halabja, Iraq
Vice president Mayor of Mexico City, Mexico
Vice president Mayor of Des Moines, U.S.

Executive
Executive
Executive
Executive
Executive
Executive
Executive
Executive
Executive
Executive
Executive
Executive

Governor of Bangkok, Thailand
Mayor of Fremantle, Australia
Mayor of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mayor of Semey, Kazakhstan
Mayor of Cochin, India
Mayor of Montreal, Canada
Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand
Mayor of Santos, Brazil
Mayor of Cartago, Costa Rica
Mayor of Tehran, IranMayor of Grigny, France
Mayor of Cervia, Italy