A campaign initiated by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and NuclearBan.US to build local and state support for the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the Treaty Ban, got its kick-off at the United Nations in New York with a national strategy session and recognition ceremony to the City of Takoma Park, MD. The Nobel Prize-winning ICAN recognized Takoma Park with a Certificate of Compliance with the UN Treaty Ban.
On March 14, 2018, Takoma Park became the first city in the U.S. to declare its compliance with the UN accord. The Treaty Ban prohibits the development, testing, production, deployment, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, and requires environmental remediation and assistance to victims of the nuclear age. It was adopted by 122 countries at the UN on 7 July 2017. Once it is ratified by 50 nations, it becomes international law. Austria has recently became the ninth signatory state to ratify the Ban Treaty.
The ICAN Certificate of Compliance to Paul Gunter, a member of the City of Takoma Park’s Nuclear-Free Committee, received the award and will convey the recognition to Takoma Park mayor, Kate Stewart, and the City Council on May 23. Gunter is also the Director of the Reactor Oversight Project at Beyond Nuclear, a Takoma Park-based non-profit and anti-nuclear advocacy organization.
“In 1983, the City of Takoma Park, Maryland, was one of the first US cities to become a nuclear free zone by a city ordinance,” said Gunter. “This honor from ICAN recognizes another important ‘first’ by our city, which has remained consistently proactive and a leader on this issue,” Gunter said. The Nuclear-Free Committee was created by the ordinance to vet all city contracts to assure compliance on the prohibition against doing business with nuclear weapons manufacturers.
Takoma Park’s recognition award came during meetings that launched a national campaign initiated by NuclearBan.US. in support of the Ban Treaty. Campaigners in the US want cities and states – as well as businesses, universities, faith communities, and individuals – to comply with the treaty, even if the US government, along with the eight other nuclear weapons states, refuse to do so.
The Takoma Park Nuclear-Free Committee is already working on the next stage of this issue by calling on the city to divest from the banks that are themselves financing the nuclear weapons industry. This is part of an international effort led by the Don’t Bank on the Bomb campaign to get financial institutions all over the world to divest from the nuclear weapons industry.