In June 2008, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) unanimously adopted a far-reaching resolution entitled “Support for the Elimination of All Nuclear Weapons by the Year 2020.” The USCM resolution recommends that the U.S. government “urgently consider” the Hiroshima–Nagasaki Protocol as a means of “fulfilling the promise of the NPT by the year 2020, thereby meeting the obligation founded by the International Court of Justice in 1996 to ‘conclude negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control.’” The resolution also encourages USCM members to sign the Cities Appeal being circulated in support of the Hiroshima–Nagasaki Protocol and to encourage other elected officials in their cities to do likewise.
Since May 2008, the main focus of the work of the 2020 Vision Campaign has been the signature drive for the Cities Appeal in support of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol.
By signing the Cities Appeal, Mayors and elected local officials around the world are given the chance to get behind the Hiroshima–Nagasaki Protocol ahead of the formal and final presentation of the results of the international signature drive at the 2010 NPT Review Conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
They range from Sapporo (Japan) to San Francisco (USA), and from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Cape Town (South Africa) as far as Toronto (Canada).
Article III underscores the need for all states to contribute to the international control system and to continue to comply fully with their NPT obligations.