Submitted by the AEU Ethical Action Committee and the National Ethical Service and Passed at the 100th AEU Assembly

The American Ethical Union is committed to building a more humane world by empowering and honoring the worth of all people, and by fostering ethical relationships between people, communities, and nations.

These commitments arise from compassion, reason, science, and the profound needs of
an ever-changing world.

Whereas, nuclear weapons are incompatible with Ethical Culture values, as affirmed by AEU Resolutions on Nuclear Proliferation passed in 1960, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1981, 1982, and 1986;

Whereas, the protection of the individuals, communities, and countries is no longer served by concepts of national interest, national armament, and war as an instrument of foreign policy, as affirmed by the 2006 AEU Resolution in Support of a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence;

Whereas, the use of weapons of nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare threaten the survival of mankind, the right of people to live in security and dignity, the safeguarding of the planet for future generations, and all the advances which civilization has accomplished;

Whereas, there is no countervailing imperative—whether of national security, stability in international power relations, or the difficulty of overcoming political inertia—that justifies the continued existence or use of nuclear weapons;

Therefore, we urge the world’s political leaders to break the deepening spirals of distrust that undermine the viability of human societies and threaten our shared future;

We Pledge To:

1. Support each other and the National Ethical Service in resisting reliance on nuclear weapons;
2. Educate our Ethical Societies about the inhumane and unethical nature of nuclear weapons and the unacceptable risks they pose;
3. Work with other ethical/religious traditions to raise awareness of the ethical imperative to abolish nuclear weapons;
4. Share this resolution with Humanist communities and publicize it to the United Nations and relevant US branches of government;

We Call on World Governments To:

1. Take concrete action leading to the swift and complete elimination of nuclear weapons, building upon existing obligations under the Non­Proliferation Treaty (NPT);
2. Heed the realities clarified by successive international conferences on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and the voices of the world’s hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors);
3. Associate themselves with the pledge to enact measures that fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons, delivered by Austria at the 2014 International Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons;
4. Create a new legal instrument in a forum open to all nations to prohibit nuclear weapons.
5. Strengthen the rule of law and U.N. bodies that can settle international disputes, especially the International Court of Justice.