International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons 2023: Date, History, Facts about Nuclear Weapons

International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons is celebrated annually on September 26. Achieving global nuclear disarmament is one of the earliest objectives of the United Nations. The truth is that approximately 13,080 nuclear weapons still exist. It is essential that nuclear-armed nations have well-funded, long-term plans to modernize their nuclear arsenals.

More than half of the world’s population either possesses nuclear weapons or is a member of a nuclear alliance. In accordance with a treaty, all nuclear weapons have been physically eliminated, and the number of deployed nuclear weapons has decreased significantly since the height of the Cold War.

The background of International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

In 1946, the first resolution of the General Assembly authorized the Atomic Energy Commission to make specific proposals for the control of nuclear energy and the abolition of not only atomic weapons but also all other significant weapons adaptable for mass destruction.

In 1959, the General Assembly endorsed the objective of global and total disarmament. The first Special Session of the General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament, which was convened in 1978, reaffirmed that nuclear disarmament should be the top priority in the field of disarmament. Every United Nations Secretary-General has actively promoted this objective.

Since the end of the Cold War, the international framework for arms control has contributed to international security. It was also a deterrent to the use of nuclear weapons. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted on July 7, 2017. This Treaty is so significant because it is the first legally binding multilateral instrument for nuclear disarmament to be negotiated in twenty years. The United States withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty on August 2, 2019; however, the United States and the Russian Federation had previously agreed to eliminate an entire class of nuclear missiles. The General Assembly observes September 26 as International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

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5 FACTS YOU MOST LIKELY DON’T KNOW ABOUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS

As is well known, nuclear weapons destroy entire cities and murder the majority of their inhabitants.

Nuclear weapons also produce ionizing radiation, which has long-term health consequences, such as cancer and genetic damage, murders or sickens those exposed, and contaminates the environment.

Even the detonation of a single nuclear weapon in a modern city would overwhelm extant disaster relief resources.

Spending on nuclear weapons is detrimental to society because it diverts scarce resources from essential social services.

No nation or international organization could adequately address either the immediate humanitarian emergency or the long-term consequences of a nuclear weapon detonation.

INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE TOTAL ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS DATES