A nuclear weapons-free world is possible

They are no longer generally considered to be the best means to ensure national security.

The International Day against Nuclear Tests is observed on August 29. It was established on December 2, 2009 at   the United Nations General Assembly. The resolution which was adopted unanimously.  

The resolution in particular calls for increasing awareness  about the effects of nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the need for their cessation as one of the means of achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.     

Following the establishment of the International Day against Nuclear Tests, in May 2010 all state parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons committed themselves to "achieve the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons".  

We see nuclear catastrophe as one of the biggest threats to the future of humankind.  

According to reports there are 14,000 nuclear warheads in existence today, with a combined destructive capability of nearly 100,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs.

As long as nuclear weapons remain in existence, it is inevitable that they will someday be used, whether by design, accident or miscalculation. The only guarantee of the non-use of nuclear weapons is their complete abolition.

We therefore advocate that the immediate, medium-term objective should be to focus on minimisation of nuclear weapons, but with total nuclear disarmament as the ultimate end goal.

We call  on all nuclear powers to take urgent first steps towards nuclear disarmament.

The challenges of achieving the final elimination of nuclear weapons are daunting and will require a significant amount of political will. But this is not a reason to despair. Small steps can be significant and what seems unthinkable now is likely to be far more achievable in a decade’s time.

After the worst of times, we are perhaps entering the best of times for proponents of nuclear disarmament. At long last, advocates of the elimination of nuclear weapons have reason for some guarded optimism. The road to a nuclear-weapons-free world will be long and bumpy, but those expected to take the initiative seem to have finally decided to lead. That is encouraging.

Sixty-four years ago the world was free of nuclear weapons, but after the production of some 140,000 of these artifacts of mass destruction, there seems to be a significant shift in the role some Governments have assigned to them. They are no longer generally considered to be the best means to ensure national security. Deterrence and mutually-assured destruction have become outdated concepts in a world now more concerned with other questions and challenges, including widespread poverty, climate change, a worldwide economic and financial meltdown, and other threats such as the recent alarm over the pandemic outbreak of a new kind of influenza virus.

Above all, the motivation for seeking the elimination of nuclear weapons now seems to be a fear of the further proliferation of these weapons to other States and possibly to the so-called non-State actors, including terrorist groups. There is the rub.Nuclear weapons are intrinsically dangerous and pose an unparalleled threat to the very existence of humankind. They do not enhance a country's security but, rather, imperil the survival of all nations, which should be the point of departure of nuclear disarmament efforts