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PHILADELPHIA Area Announcement of U.N. Nuclear Ban Treaty Entry Into Force In front of Phila. Federal Courthouse
January 22, 2021 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
NUCLEAR WEAPONS NOW ILLEGAL!
On Jan. 22, 2021, the UN Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons went into effect
worldwide as in- ternational law, after being ratified by 51 nations. We joined in celebration of
this landmark in front of the Federal Courthouse in Philadelphia, PA, hosted by the
Brandywine Peace Community.
Above:
Report back, Program BELOW from Philadelphia Public Announcement
Philadelphia Public Announcement
Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Enters into Force
Sponsored by Brandywine Peace Community,
Endorsed by Philly Divest from Nuclear Weapons Campaign
Opening Dedication:
S. Ardeth Platte, tireless advocate for UN Nuclear Ban Treaty
Public Reading
The States Parties to this Treaty,
• Determined to contribute to the realization of the purposes and principles of the Charter of
the United Nations,
• Deeply concerned about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences that would result from any
use of nu- clear weapons, and recognizing the consequent need to completely eliminate such weapons,
which remains the only way to guarantee that nuclear weapons are never used again under any
circumstances,
• Mindful of the risks posed by the continued existence of nuclear weapons, including from any
nuclear-weap- on detonation by accident, miscalculation or design, and emphasizing that these risks
concern the security of all humanity, and that all States share the responsibility to prevent any
use of nuclear weapons,
• Cognizant that the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons cannot be adequately
addressed, transcend national borders, pose grave implications for human survival, the
environment, socioeconomic development, the global economy, food security and the health of
current and future generations, and have a disproportionate impact on women and girls, including as
a result of ionizing radiation,
• Acknowledging the ethical imperatives for nuclear disarmament and the urgency of achieving
and maintaining a nuclear-weapon-free world, which is a global public good of the highest order,
serving both national and collective security interests,
• Mindful of the unacceptable suffering of and harm caused to the victims of the use of nuclear
weapons (hi- bakusha), as well as of those affected by the testing of nuclear weapons,
• Recognizing the disproportionate impact of nuclear-weapon activities on indigenous peoples,
• Re-affirming the need for all States at all times to comply with applicable international law,
including international humanitarian law and international human rights law,
• Considering that any use of nuclear weapons would be contrary to the rules of international
law applicable in armed conflict, in particular the principles and rules of international humanitarian law,
• Re-affirming that any use of nuclear weapons would also be abhorrent to the principles of
humanity and the dictates of public conscience,
• Recalling also the first resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations, adopted on
24 January 1946, and subsequent resolutions which call for the elimination of nuclear weapons,
• Concerned by the slow pace of nuclear disarmament, the continued reliance on nuclear weapons
in military and security concepts, doctrines and policies, and the waste of economic and human
resources on pro- grams for the production, maintenance and modernization of nuclear weapons,
• Recognizing that a legally binding prohibition of nuclear weapons constitutes an
important contribution towards the achievement and maintenance of a world free of nuclear weapons,
including the irreversible, verifiable and transparent elimination of nuclear weapons, and
determined to act towards that end,
• Recognizing that the equal, full and effective participation of both women and men is an
essential factor for the promotion and attainment of sustainable peace and security, and committed
to supporting and strengthening the effective participation of women in nuclear disarmament,
• Recognizing also the importance of peace and disarmament education in all its aspects and of
raising awareness of the risks and consequences of nuclear weapons for current and future
generations, and committed to the dissemination of the principles and norms of this Treaty,
• Stressing the role of public conscience in the furthering of the principles of humanity as
evidenced by the call for total elimination of nuclear weapons, and recognizing efforts to that end
undertaken by the United Nations, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, other
international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations, religious leaders,
parliamentarians, academics and the hibakusha.
Treaty Prohibitions
Each State Party undertakes never under any circumstances to:
1. Develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons
or other nuclear explosive devices;
2. Transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or
control over such weapons or explosive devices directly or indirectly;
3. Receive the transfer of or control over nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices
directly or indirectly;
4. Use or threaten to use nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices;
5. Assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a
State Party
under this Treaty;
6. Seek or receive any assistance, in any way, from anyone to engage in any activity prohibited
to a State Party under this Treaty;
7. Allow any stationing, installation or deployment of any nuclear weapons or other nuclear
explosive
devices in its territory or at any place under its jurisdiction or control.
DONE at New York, this seventh day of July, two thousand and seventeen.
51 Countries have ratified UN Nuclear Ban Treaty
ALL:
Antigua & Barbuda, Austria, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Cook Islands, Costa
Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Gambia, Guyana, Holy See, Honduras, Ireland,
Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Laos, Lesotho, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mexico, Namibia, Nauru,
New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Niue, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, St. Kitts and Nevis,
St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, South Africa, Thailand,
Trinidad & Tobago, Tuvalu, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam
Raise a noise in celebration – Clap your hands, raise your voice, bang a drum, hear the bell
tolling! … because the treaty enters into force TODAY!
Be it resolved ••• Philadelphia City Council Resolution Supporting the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty (Oct. 2019), see below
Closing Dedication:
Vinton Deming, lifelong civil rights and peace organizer
END
UN Treaty Declares…NUCLEAR WEAPONS ILLEGAL
www.icanw.org
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
Philadelphia
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 31
JANUARY 22, 2021 – NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ILLEGAL
TODAY, JANUARY 22, 2021, nuclear weapons are outlawed, an historical announcement the world has awaited for more than 75 years.
On January 22, 2021, people around the world will celebrate the day that the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) enters into force (EIF Day), which the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) describes so eloquently and historically as “the beginning of the end of nuclear weapons”
CELEBRATE…DEMONSTRATE…UPLIFT & UPHOLD.
NOON, JANUARY 22, PHILADELPHIA Area-Wide Announcement of the Issuance of the U.N. Nuclear Ban Treaty Entry Into Force in front of Phila. Federal Courthouse, 601 Market Street.
Related likely announcements forthcoming.
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 will enter into force, cementing a categorical ban on nuclear weapons, 75 years after their first use.
https://www.icanw.org/signature_and_ratification_status
This is a historic milestone for this landmark treaty. Prior to the TPNW’s 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.
NOON, JANUARY 22, in front of Phila. Federal Courthouse, 601 Market Street.
PHILADELPHIA Area-Wide Announcement of the Issuance of the U.N. Nuclear Ban Treaty Entry Into Force.
MANDATORY FOR PARTICIPANTS:
Adherence to the discipline of Nonviolence [“of fist, tongue, and heart”, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.]
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Safety concerns for one another and all others in this horrid time of COVED-19, as the severity and spread, rate of infection and deaths from the virus increases everywhere.
Practice SOCIAL DISTANCING and WEAR A MASK OR FACIAL COVERING (no ifs, ands, or buts about it). If you don’t have a mask, we’ll give you one! There will be no movement amongst participants , after the demonstration’s set-up onsite. Greetings to other participants will be verbal and the twinkle in your eyes.
Please bring your folding chair and once you get situated, six feet apart on either side from other participants, with a sign, “SIT-IN’ in your chair and remain there to end of the demonstration.
Please check into this site page for any updates and/or adaptations in keeping with the Covid-19 precautions. TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER, THE MANTRA OF DAY!
