Nuclear-Weapon-Free Cities

In 1981 peace groups around Aotearoa-New Zealand started a campaign to have their homes, schools, workplaces, towns and cities to be Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zones (NWFZs) as a way to educate others in the community about the dangers of nuclear weapons and to indicate to the government the desire of New Zealanders to prohibit nuclear weapons from our territory.

At the city or borough level this involved proposing resolutions to be adopted by the city councils or regional authorities declaring them to be NWFZs. By June 1984 over 60% of New Zealanders lived in cities or regions which had adopted NWFZ resolutions. This campaign helped move the Labour Party to adopt a nuclear-weapon-free policy leading into the 1984 election, and ensured that such policy was implemented once they got into power. The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act was passed into law on June 8th, 1987.