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Mayors for Peace Joint Appeal for Common Ground on the NPT
On behalf of Mayors for Peace
Kazumi Matsui, President of Mayors for Peace and Mayor of HiroshimaTomihisa Taue, Vice President of Mayors for Peace and Mayor of Nagasaki
T.M. Franklin Cownie, Vice President of Mayors for Peace and Mayor of Des Moines, Iowa
May 10, 2019
On 1 May 2019, we—along with representatives from several other non-governmentalorganizations—addressed the delegations participating in an international conference reviewing
the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Today, we offer this joint
appeal in anticipation of the treaty’s Review Conference next year at the United Nations.
We view the NPT as one of the most important treaties of the post-World War II era.
With a membership just short of the United Nations Charter, this treaty embodies a near-global
consensus on the basic proposition that international peace and security would be strengthened ina world free from the existence or proliferation of nuclear weapons. We recognize the NPT as
the only multilateral instrument binding the recognized nuclear-weapon states to pursue
negotiations in good faith on nuclear disarmament.
In their preparations for the historic NPT Review Conference in 2020—to be held on thetreaty’s fiftieth anniversary—we appeal to all delegations to focus their deliberations on
expanding their common ground on the fundamental objects and purposes of this treaty. The
future success of the NPT will depend heavily upon diplomatic bridge building among
delegations, reinforced by a common commitment to ensure the effective implementation andachievement of the treaty’s principal goals.
We understand that parties to complex multilateral treaties often disagree over suchmatters as degrees of compliance, appropriate methods for achieving treaty goals, the equity ofvarious treaty commitments, and the never-ending competition from narrow national interestsand short-term priorities.
We appeal to all delegations not to permit such divisions from eroding the great commonground upon which all the states parties stand with respect to this treaty. We urge them to work
to expand this common ground by engaging in earnest dialogue that transcends differences andto agree on innovative solutions to advance concrete nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation
measures. We view the global interest embodied in the NPT as in the national interests of all
countries and all peoples worldwide.
Recalling the inspirational words of the Einstein-Russell Manifesto in 1955: “We appeal
as human beings to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest.” This isprecisely the message that the hibakusha—the survivors of the tragic atomic bombings —mosthumbly wish to extend to the world and to future generations. And we wish to convey theirwishes today in this joint appeal and encourage all delegations to make the 2020 NPT Review
Conference a success through bold initiatives to turn the confrontational security environment
into one of cooperative security.