In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared September 26 to be the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (Nuclear Abolition Day).
The UNGA resolution establishing the day:
1. Calls for progress to achieve a nuclear weapons convention – a global treaty which includes both nuclear-armed and non-nuclear countries in the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons under strict and effective international control;
2. Encourages parliamentarians and civil society to organise events or take action on this day to promote the complete elimination of nuclear weapons;
3. Decided to hold a High-Level Meeting annually to promote the global elimination of nuclear weapons and for governments to report on progress.
The United Nations General Assembly will host a High Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament at the UN Headquarters on September 26. UN Member States will be represented by their Presidents, Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers or UN Ambassadors. The event will aslo be live-streamed on http://webtv.un.org/.
A limited number of NGOs will be able to attend the event. In addition, the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs will select two representatives from civil society to speak. Registration and application to speak closes on August 23. Click here to register.
Suggested Actions:
• Encourage your Prime Minister/President to participate in the Sep 26 UN High-Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament, and to use this opportunity to call on all states to commit to never launch a nuclear war, and to negotiate an agreement for the the complete elimination of nuclear weapons (nuclear weapons convention).
• Encourage your parliamentarian to join Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament and take action with other parliamentarians for nuclear disarmament.
Marzhan Nurzhan, Deputy Director of the Basel Peace Office, speaking at the UN High Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament at the United Nations in New York on September 26, 2017.
List of Nuclear Abolition Day 2019 events and actions around the world
UNFOLD ZERO, a global platform advancing UN initiatives for nuclear abolition, is compiling a list of Nuclear Abolition Day 2019 events and actions around the world. Please click here to have your event or action included in the list..
The Man who Saved the World
September 26 is also the anniversary of the incident in 1983 when a nuclear war was almost launched due to malfunctions in the Soviet nuclear weapons early warning system, which erroneously detected a US ballistic missile attack against Moscow. The incident is graphically portrayed in the award winning docu-drama ‘The Man who Saved the World.’
Suggested action: Organise a screening of ‘The Man who saved the World’ or another local event for Nuclear Abolition Day. Contact UNFOLD ZERO for details on how to organise a screening.
Global week of action on Peace, Climate, SDGs and Nuclear Abolition
The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons falls in the same week as the UN International Day for Peace (Sep 21), the UN Climate Summit (Sep 23) and the UN Summit on SDGs (Sep 24-25).
As such, peace, development and climate action networks are cooperating with nuclear abolitionists on a Global Week of Action on Peace, Climate, Sustainable Development and Nuclear Abolition, Sep 21-27.
One link between the issues is the $100 billion nuclear weapons budget, which could instead be used to fund climate protection, renewable energies and SDGs.
Suggested action: Join the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign to cut nuclear weapons budgets, end investments in nuclear weapons (including investments by your bank, city, pension fund, university, sovereign wealth fund etc…), and shift these budgets and investments to promoting peace, protecting the climate, ending poverty and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
