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PHILADELPHIA Area Celebration & Uplift 1 Year Anniversary of U.N. Nuclear Ban Treaty Entry Into Force Phila. Federal Courthouse/Liberty Bell
January 22, 2022 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
On Jan. 22, 2021, the United Nations Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons [UN Nuclear Ban Treaty] Entered Into Force and the UN declared “NUCLEAR WEAPONS ILLEGAL”
We, with groups and people across the country and around the world, in celebration of this landmark treaty gathered in front of the Federal Courthouse across from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, PA.
One year later, on Saturday, January 22, 2022, the first anniversary of the historic treaty entering into force, people will again gather in celebration of the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty. We demand that the U.S. government listen to the world and Join the UN Treaty to abolish nuclear weapons.
Sat., Jan. 22, Noon
Phila. Federal Courthouse, 6th & Market Sts. with walk-around (one block to, one block from) Liberty Bell, 526 Market Streets, to Chestnut & Market)
Lift your voice writ large in colorful banners and posters.
Reach-Out to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
Public Reading of the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty and the Phila. City Council Resolution of Support.
Bell of Peace Tolling
Short walk around nearby LIBERTY BELL, with message to President Joe Biden STOP THE MADNESS..THE WORLD TO US: SIGN THE UN NUCLEAR BAN TREATY
City of Philadelphia
RESOLUTION NO. 190841
City Council
Chief Clerk’s Office 402 City Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Introduced October 24, 2019
Councilmembers Gym, Squilla, Bass and Green
RESOLUTION
Urging the United States of America’s federal government to enter the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons among all United Nations member states, to prevent the threat of nuclear war and
devastating humanitarian consequences to Philadelphia and our international neighbors.
WHEREAS, Resolution No. 180322 adopted by this body on April 19, 2018, cautioned against the danger and potential harms of nuclear war and called on the
United States Congress to prevent the President’s unilateral power to launch
a nuclear first strike without receiving congressional or judicial approval; and
WHEREAS, Nuclear warheads are the most powerful weapons of mass destruction in our country’s military inventory with immense radioactivity consequences in the aftermath; and
WHEREAS, The United States, one of the global nuclear power states, has the
second highest nuclear missile count and is not a signatory to or a member of the
Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that requires nuclear disarmament and the prohibition of nuclear activities; and
WHEREAS, More than ninety percent of the world’s nuclear arms belong to the United States and Russia. Other countries known to hold the remainder of nuclear weapons are China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United Kingdom; and
WHEREAS, Although the United States’ reduced its active nuclear weapons by
more than 25,000 since the height of the Cold War, the United States still has almost 4,000 warheads in its arsenal, nearly half of which are programmed for short notice detonation; and
WHEREAS, Launching even one nuclear warhead could prompt a large-scale nuclear war, immediately kill millions of people, and cause irredeemable destruction to the world with potential casualties extending to worldwide climate disruption, global famine, species extinction, and immeasurable environmental damage from a ‘nuclear winter’; and
WHEREAS, Projections on the detonation of a 300-pound nuclear warhead
with powers analogous to U.S. warheads over the City of Philadelphia would kill 280,000 and injure 450,000 people. The most massive U.S. warhead weighs over twenty times more at 6,200 pounds, threatening widespread obliteration of humanity and the earth; and
WHEREAS, The residents of Philadelphia, the birthplace of political freedom and independence in the United States, like all communities across the world, deserve to live a life free from the threat of nuclear weapons and nuclear war; and
WHEREAS, Assurances by the United States government that nuclear arsenals will never be used are unreliable as under current law, the President has sole authority to unilaterally initiate the use of nuclear weapons, global tensions escalate and nuclear-armed countries boldly taunt their nuclear power; and
WHEREAS, The taking U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert, canceling the plan to replace the United States’ entire nuclear arsenal with enhanced weapons, and actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to
eliminate their nuclear arsenals will contribute to a more peaceful, secure, and stable global community; and
WHEREAS, The planned expenditure of about $500 billion over the next decade to
maintain and enhance our nuclear arsenal, including developing and deploying new
nuclear weapons and broadening the conditions for use, will not only increase the
risk of nuclear disaster, but fuel a global arms race and divert crucial resources
needed to fulfill domestic needs such as public education, healthcare, public
transportation, and many more public institutions and common resources; and
WHEREAS, An alternative exists, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
adopted by the United Nations in July of 2017 has been signed by 79
countries, and prohibits the development, testing, production, stockpiling, transfer,
use, and threat of use of nuclear weapons, and sets out procedures for nuclear-armed signatories to destroy their existing nuclear stockpile; and
WHEREAS, The United States signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons would spearhead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by renouncing the
option of using nuclear weapons first and end the President’s sole authority to launch a nuclear attack; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia hereby joins the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the
cities of Baltimore, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Washington D.C. and the states
of California, Maine, and New Jersey who all resolved that the United States
sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, urges the United States of America’s federal government to enter the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons
among all United Nations member states, to prevent the threat of nuclear war and
devastating humanitarian consequences to Philadelphia and our international neighbors.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Philadelphia City Council will transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the United States Senators from Pennsylvania, each Congressional Representative from Philadelphia, and to the Governor of Pennsylvania, asking them to support the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Endorsed by
Asian Americans United Brandywine Peace Community
Catholic Peace Fellowship Philadelphia
Germantown Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Granny Peace Brigade Greater Philadelphia Branch of WILPF, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Pennsylvania Nuclear Ban Alliance
Philadelphia Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Physicians for Social Responsibility, Philadelphia, PA
The Shalom Center
United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia Veterans for Peace, Philadelphia, Chapter 3
CELEBRATE…DEMONSTRATE…UPLIFT & UPHOLD. UN Nuclear Ban Treaty
Phila. Federal Courthouse, 601 Market Street.
The world is fighting back against the nuclear weapons powers.
Join the fight to abolish nuclear weapons and rid our Mother Earth of the threat to all humanity, the threat of nuclear war!
July 7, 2017 –- following a decade of advocacy by International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and its partners -– an overwhelming majority of the world’s nations adopted a landmark global agreement to ban all nuclear weapons, known officially as the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The treaty was negotiated at the United Nations headquarters in New York in March, June and July 2017, with the participation of more than 135 nations, as well as members of civil society. It opened for signature on 20 September 2017. It is permanent in nature, and will be legally binding on those nations that join it.
All nine nuclear armed nations abstained from the treaty’s adoption. The United States along with Russia possesses 90% of existing nuclear weapons.
There’s a growing, worldwide movement for the abolition of nuclear weapons, to end, once and for all, the scourge of nuclear weapons upon the earth and to end the unspeakable threat of nuclear war to our human family.
On October 24, 2020, the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons reached the required 50 states parties for its entry into force, after Honduras ratified just one day after Jamaica and Nauru submitted their ratifications. On January 22, 2021, the treaty entered into force, cementing a categorical ban on nuclear weapons, 75 years after their first use.
This is a historic milestone for this landmark treaty. Prior to the Treaty on the Prevention of Nuclear Weapons adoption, nuclear weapons were the only weapons of mass destruction not banned under international law, despite their catastrophic humanitarian consequences. Now, with the treaty’s entry into force, we can call nuclear weapons what they are: prohibited weapons of mass destruction, just like chemical weapons and biological weapons.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ILLEGAL!
This is just the beginning. Once the treaty is in force, all states parties will need to implement all of their positive obligations under the treaty and abide by its prohibitions. States that haven’t joined the treaty will feel its power too. We can expect, under pressure, companies – like Lockheed Martin, the U.S.’s #1 nuclear weapons contractor – to stop producing nuclear weapons and financial institutions to stop investing in nuclear weapon producing companies.
How do we know? Because we have nearly 600 partner organizations in over 100 countries committed to advancing this treaty and the norm against nuclear weapons. People, companies, universities and governments everywhere will know this weapon has been prohibited by law and that now is the moment for them to stand on the right side of history.
