International Human Rights Days

The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons has been observed annually on September 26th since 2014. It was declared by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2013 in an attempt to raise public awareness of the threats that nuclear weapons may pose to humanity and other living organisms if they are used.

Today, it is known that in addition to the five "old" nuclear powers, whose status was enshrined in the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons - the United States, Russia, China, Great Britain and France, India, Pakistan, Israel and the DPRK also possess nuclear weapons. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), at the beginning of 2024, these nine states possessed a total of about 12,121 nuclear weapons - this estimate is approximate, since in many cases the ability to obtain reliable information about the actual volume of weapons and capabilities of countries is seriously limited.

At the same time, the concept of nuclear deterrence remains one of the cornerstones of the security policies of states that possess nuclear weapons. Thus, the United States and Russia, which account for approximately 90 percent of all nuclear weapons, continue to actively modernize the nuclear warheads and delivery systems in their arsenals, and are also systematically increasing production capacities that can be used to create nuclear weapons. Moreover, in 2019, the United States withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which was aimed at the complete elimination of this class of nuclear missiles, and in 2023, Russia suspended its participation in the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms.

In such circumstances, The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons is intended to become an additional opportunity to remind the world community of the need for complete nuclear disarmament and that, in reality, peace and security can only be achieved on Earth with the complete destruction of nuclear weapons. Events held by the UN and other organizations to mark this date are aimed at informing the public and world leaders about the problem and at cultivating their commitment to the idea of ​​building a world free of nuclear weapons.

Sources

SIPRI Yearbook 2024

International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons | 26 September

Written by Olga Pynenkova for Yonsei GSIS Human Rights Hub