“Munich Appeal” on the Occasion of the International Munich Peace Conference 2022
supported by the City of Munich represented by Mayor Dieter Reiter in the framework of “Mayors for Peace

Set the course now for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

On January 3, 2022, the five nuclear powers-China, France, Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom-issued a joint statement emphasizing that nuclear war cannot be won and must never be waged. However, as long as nuclear weapons exist and can therefore be a means of military conflict, the need for nuclear deterrence continues, in their view and that of the German government. There are still about 13,000 warheads. That’s 13,000 too many. For as long as nuclear weapons exist, they can be a potential means of a military confrontation, which will not be lost by the participants, but by mankind, because a nuclear war with its destructive power only knows losers. The abolition of all nuclear weapons is the best way out of the absurd logic of nuclear deterrence, which is causally chained to the existence of nuclear weapons.

Therefore we call upon the Federal Government to ensure that the Federal Republic of Germany, within the framework of NATO, advocates a policy of war prevention without nuclear weapons and takes the initiative for worldwide arms control and disarmament for the peaceful resolution of international conflicts on the basis of the idea of common security in the spirit of the United Nations Charter. The German government should begin negotiations with the United States on the withdrawal of nuclear weapons on German soil and participate in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) conference with the goal of signing by 2024.

Mayor Dieter Reiter:

“As Mayor of Munich and as a member of Mayors for Peace, I strongly appeal to those responsible to do everything possible to achieve the general and worldwide abolition of nuclear weapons. Any use of nuclear weapons, whether intentional or accidental, would result in catastrophic, far-reaching, and long-lasting consequences for people and the environment. This is something to be avoided at all costs!”

Munich, Feb. 15, 2022

Published on the homepage of the city of Munich: https://stadt.muenchen.de/news/muenchnerappellzurfriendenskonferenz.html

 

Image rights: Michael Nagy/Press Office City of Munich