1,000+ Cities Push Governments to Ban Nuclear Weapons

Cities from New York to Beijing are standing up to protect their residents from nuclear threats, and the movement is gaining serious momentum.

Through the ICAN Cities Appeal, more than 1,000 municipalities across 24 countries have officially urged their national governments to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Major cities including Washington, Berlin, Paris, Rome, and Canberra have all added their voices to the call for eliminating nuclear arsenals.

The push comes from a stark reality: cities are the primary targets of nuclear weapons, yet most have zero capacity to respond to an attack. A 2023 study found that if a single 100-kiloton nuclear weapon detonated over Beijing, it would create 1.2 million casualties with no adequate medical personnel or hospital facilities to treat them.

The International Committee of the Red Cross put it plainly: there is no adequate humanitarian response capacity if nuclear weapons are used. Even the smallest nuclear weapons in today's arsenals would create an overwhelming humanitarian emergency.

Cities aren't waiting for national leaders to act. Municipal governments are empowered to speak out against nuclear weapons in security policies and demand real change for the people living in their communities.

The Ripple Effect

This grassroots momentum is particularly powerful in countries where national governments still cling to nuclear deterrence policies. Local leaders see what federal officials sometimes miss: that nuclear weapons don't protect cities, they endanger them.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons provides the legal framework to move toward verifiable nuclear disarmament. By adding their voices, cities create pressure from the ground up for governments to join.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, supports these cities in taking local action on this global issue. Their research has helped mayors understand the actual risks their populations face.

More cities are joining the appeal every month, building a coalition that's impossible for national governments to ignore. When your own municipalities say the current approach isn't working, it's time to listen.

The images from Hiroshima and Nagasaki remind us what's at stake. Now cities around the world are making sure those tragedies never happen again.