The Declaration takes the position that US policies, which clearly state the possibility of first-strike use of nuclear weapons and pursue the development of small nuclear weapons, are threatening to destroy the NPT regime. It criticizes such policies for "worshipping nuclear weapons as God," and invites President Bush and Chairman Kim Jong Il of North Korea, which has declared that it possesses nuclear weapons, to visit Hiroshima to see the reality of nuclear war.

In an appeal to the American people, the declaration quotes President Lincoln saying, "You can't fool all the people all the time." The context is a rejection of any attempt to justify as a "war to create peace" the war in Iraq, which has left that country contaminated with radiation due to depleted uranium.

It also quotes US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. "Darkness can never be dispelled by darkness, only by light." The message here is that the "rule of power" symbolized by the war in Iraq is darkness, while the "rule of law" and the spirit of "reconciliation" developed by the survivors is light.

In calling for an emergency campaign, the Declaration calls on members of the Mayors for Peace to attend the NPT Review Conference in 2005 and lobby their national governments to demand negotiations toward a treaty banning nuclear weapons. It also demands that world leaders to avoid making any statements that appear to accept nuclear weapons and war.

It asks the Japanese national government to abide by three new non-nuclear principles - allow no production, allow no possession, and allow no use of nuclear weapons anywhere in the world. It also calls for the first time for assistance for hibakusha who were in black rain areas immediately after the bombing.