| International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons | |
|---|---|
_(48763917618).jpg) TheNon-Aligned Movement event marking Nuclear Weapons Elimination Day at the 2019IAEA conference | |
| Type | International |
| Significance | Advocacy fornuclear disarmament[1] |
| Date | 26 September |
| Next time | 26 September 2026 (2026-09-26) |
| First time | 2014; 11 years ago (2014) |
TheInternational Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, also known asNuclear Weapons Elimination Day, is aninternational observance declared by theUnited Nations, held on 26 September every year. The day promotes the cause ofnuclear disarmament. The observance was established in 2013.
On 26 September 2013, the UNGeneral Assembly held its first ever high-level meeting on nuclear disarmament; theresolution that convened the meeting stated that the UN was "Convinced that nuclear disarmament and the complete elimination of nuclear weapons are essential to remove the danger of nuclear war."[2] On 3 December, the General Assembly passed resolution 68/32, affirming that the high-level meeting had endorsed the abolition of nuclear weapons, and declaring an annual International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on the anniversary of the meeting.[3][4] 26 September also corresponds with the anniversary of the1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident, in which errors in a Sovietearly warning system generated false reports of incomingICBMs.[5] However, the resolution declaring the observance did not make explicit reference to this co-occurrence.[3]
In March 2014, theInter-Parliamentary Union passed a resolution calling onparliamentarians to "promote and commemorate" Nuclear Weapon Elimination Day and to work towards theabolition of nuclear weapons worldwide.[6] The first observance took place in September 2014.[7] In May 2018, following up on the 2013 high-level meeting and in accordance with resolution 68/32, the UN held the High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament.NGOs and academics, as well as politicians from member states, were invited to participate.[8] For the 2019 Nuclear Weapons Elimination Day, a ceremony was held atUN Headquarters in which 12 states signed and 5 ratified theTreaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which had been finalised in 2017.[9] The treaty came into force in 2021.[1]
On the 2023 Day,UN Secretary GeneralAntónio Guterres said that "geopolitical mistrust and competition" had raised the risk ofnuclear conflict back toCold War levels. He again reaffirmed the UN's "commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons".[10][11] In the UK, a group of activists from theCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament were denied access to theUS Air Force-operated baseRAF Lakenheath, where they planned to carry out an "inspection".[12] No US nuclear weapons are based in the UK (as of 2023), but analysts have said they could be returned to Lakenheath in the future, where they were stationed from 1954 to 2007.[13][14] In Japan, a group of NGOs and the UN Information Office held a symposium on nuclear disarmament, joined by officials from theForeign Ministry.[15]
