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treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons
On Nagasaki Anniversary, UN Chief Warns 'Humanity Now Confronts a New Arms Race'
"We will not sit idly by as nuclear-armed states race to create even more dangerous weapons," he said, calling for abolishing such arms.
Aug 09, 2023
Nearly eight decades after the United States dropped an atomic bomb codenamed "Fat Man" on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday was among the voices around the world renewing calls for eliminating nuclear weapons.
In a message to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial on the 78th anniversary of the 1945 bombing, Guterres said that "this ceremony is an opportunity to remember a moment of unmatched horror for humanity."
"We mourn those killed, whose memory will never fade. We remember the terrible destruction wrought upon this city and Hiroshima," he continued, referencing the Japanese city that was bombed a few days earlier. "We honor the unrelenting strength and resilience of the people of Nagasaki to rebuild."
"And we recognize the brave hibakusha, whose powerful and harrowing testimonies will forever stand as a reminder that we must achieve a world free of these inhumane weapons," he added, using the Japanese term for survivors of the World War II attacks.
In their name and in memory of the devastation decades ago, Guterres has made eliminating nuclear weapons the U.N.'s highest disarmament priority—at a time when the world is facing fresh threats of nuclear war.
Without naming any nations, Guterres declared Wednesday that "despite the terrible lessons of 1945, humanity now confronts a new arms race. Nuclear weapons are being used as tools of coercion."
"Weapons systems are being upgraded, and placed at the center of national security strategies, making these devices of death faster, more accurate, and stealthier. All this, at a moment when division and mistrust are pulling countries and regions apart," he pointed out. "The risk of nuclear catastrophe is now at its highest level since the Cold War."
Like the Cold War, the United States and Russia have by far the largest stockpiles of the nine nuclear-armed nations—though China is working to significantly boost its arsenal. The other countries with nukes are France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom.
Fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe have ramped up since early last year, when Russia invaded Ukraine, which is receiving military and humanitarian aid from multiple countries, including the United States.
Leaders in Moscow have repeatedly made nuclear threats throughout the ongoing war. Citing a 2020 decree from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev—a former president who is now deputy chair of the country's Security Council—said late last month that if Ukraine's counteroffensive to force out invaders and reclaim territories is successful, "we would be forced to use a nuclear weapon."
Just days later, leading medical journals published a joint editorial warning that "current nuclear arms control and nonproliferation efforts are inadequate to protect the world's population against the threat of nuclear war by design, error, or miscalculation."
Noting that a U.S.-Russia war involving nukes "could kill 200 million people or more in the near term and potentially cause a global 'nuclear winter' that could kill 5-6 billion people, threatening the survival of humanity," the editorial stresses that "the prevention of any use of nuclear weapons is therefore an urgent public health priority" and advocates for abolition.
Guterres similarly said that "we will not sit idly by as nuclear-armed states race to create even more dangerous weapons" and "the only way to eliminate the nuclear risk is to eliminate nuclear weapons."
"The United Nations will continue working with global leaders to strengthen the global disarmament and nonproliferation regime—including through the Treaty on Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons," pledged the U.N. chief, who last month launched a New Agenda for Peace policy brief that prioritizes disarmament.
"We can never forget what happened here," he added of the devastation in Japan. "We must lift the shadow of nuclear annihilation, once and for all. No more Nagasakis. No more Hiroshimas."
Guterres was far from alone in using the somber occasion to demand the abolition of nuclear weapons.
A peace declaration read during the Wednesday ceremony by Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki—and translated to English by The Mainichi—notes that the 1945 attack "stole the lives of 74,000 people by the end of the year. The hibakusha who survived developed leukemia, cancer, and other diseases years and decades after the bombing battle with suffering and anxiety due to the effects of radiation even now."
Echoing Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui's Sunday speech about that city's bombing, the Nagasaki declaration asserts that "as long as states are dependent on nuclear deterrence, we cannot realize a world without nuclear weapons. Eliminating nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth is the only way to truly protect our safety."
"Please visit the atomic bombing sites, see with your own eyes and sense the consequences of nuclear weapons. Please listen to the testimonies of hibakusha, a common inheritance of humankind that must continue to be talked about throughout the world," said Suzuki, whose parents were survivors. "Knowing the reality of the atomic bombings is the starting point for achieving a world without nuclear weapons, and could also be the driving force for changing the world."
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No More Nagasakis
Any use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable; we will not sit idly by as nuclear-armed states race to create even more dangerous weapons.
Aug 09, 2023
The following is United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial on the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, held today.
This ceremony is an opportunity to remember a moment of unmatched horror for humanity—the use of atomic weapons on Nagasaki 78 years ago.
We mourn those killed, whose memory will never fade. We remember the terrible destruction wrought upon this city and Hiroshima. We honor the unrelenting strength and resilience of the people of Nagasaki to rebuild. And we recognize the brave hibakusha, whose powerful and harrowing testimonies will forever stand as a reminder that we must achieve a world free of these inhumane weapons.
All this, at a moment when division and mistrust are pulling countries and regions apart. The risk of nuclear catastrophe is now at its highest level since the Cold War.
It is in their name—and in memory of what happened here in 1945—that I have declared that the elimination of nuclear weapons is the United Nations’ highest disarmament priority. We must never again allow such devastation to occur.
Despite the terrible lessons of 1945, humanity now confronts a new arms race. Nuclear weapons are being used as tools of coercion. Weapons systems are being upgraded, and placed at the center of national security strategies, making these devices of death faster, more accurate, and stealthier.
All this, at a moment when division and mistrust are pulling countries and regions apart. The risk of nuclear catastrophe is now at its highest level since the Cold War.
In the face of these threats, the global community must speak as one. Any use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable. We will not sit idly by as nuclear-armed states race to create even more dangerous weapons.
That’s why disarmament is at the heart of the recently launchedPolicy Brief on a New Agenda for Peace. The agenda calls on U.N. member states to urgently recommit to pursuing a world free of nuclear weapons, and to reinforce the global norms against their use and proliferation. Pending their total elimination, states possessing nuclear weapons must commit to never use them. The only way to eliminate the nuclear risk is to eliminate nuclear weapons.
The United Nations will continue working with global leaders to strengthen the global disarmament and non-proliferation regime—including through the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. I have pledged to do everything in my power to ensure that the voices and testimonies of the hibakusha continue to be heard.
I call on young people—tomorrow’s leaders and decision makers—to carry their torch forward. We can never forget what happened here. We must lift the shadow of nuclear annihilation, once and for all. No more Nagasakis. No more Hiroshimas.
The United Nations looks forward to working with the people of Nagasaki and Japan in this essential effort.
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On 78th Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing, Mayor Decries 'Folly' of Deterrence Theory
"Believers of proactive nuclear deterrence, who say nuclear weapons are indispensable to maintain peace, are only delaying the progress toward nuclear disarmament," Hiroshima's governor added.
Aug 06, 2023
Local, national, and global leaders warned of the dangers of nuclear weapons as they commemorated the 78th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima Sunday.
This year's anniversary comes as the release of the film Oppenheimer has offered a high-profile reminder of the history of the atomic bomb and as nuclear tensions in the current day have heightened, in part due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the start of the year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved their doomsday clock to 90 seconds to midnight.
"Leaders around the world must confront the reality that nuclear threats now being voiced by certain policymakers reveal the folly of nuclear deterrence theory," Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said during his peace address at the commemoration ceremony in Hiroshima Sunday, as The Associated Press reported. "They must immediately take concrete steps to lead us from the dangerous present toward our ideal world."
Matsui's remarks responded in part to the Group of Seven summit in the city in May, during which world leaders put out a statement that anti-nuclear advocates considered a major disappointment.
In that statement, the leaders agreed that no country should use nuclear weapons, but that merely possessing the weapons could still "serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war and coercion," according to AP. Since then, former Russian President and current deputy chair of that country's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev threatened nuclear war if a NATO-backed Ukrainian offensive reclaims land annexed illegally by Russia.
Hiroshima's Gov. Hidehiko Yuzai agreed with its mayor that deterrence had failed.
"Believers of proactive nuclear deterrence, who say nuclear weapons are indispensable to maintain peace, are only delaying the progress toward nuclear disarmament," Yuzai said, according to AP.
The U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, at 8:15 am local time. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9. The two bombings killed between 110,000 and 210,000 people, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Those who survived, called hibakusha in Japan, still contend with sickness and injury from the bombings even as they advocate for a nuclear free world, according to AP.
"For 78 years, the city of Hiroshima and the hibakusha have worked tirelessly to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in remarks delivered at Sunday's ceremony by Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu.
People began to light candles and incense and pray at a memorial for the victims of the Hiroshima bombings as the sun rose on Sunday, according to The Washington Post. At the exact time of the bombing, a peace bell rang out, followed by a moment of silence, Reuters reported. Around 50,000 people attended the ceremony in 86°F heat.
Among them was Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who also called for peace.
"The drums of nuclear war are beating once again."
"The tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused by nuclear weapons must never be repeated," he said. "As the only country to have experienced the horror of nuclear devastation in war, Japan will press on tirelessly with its efforts to bring about 'a world without nuclear weapons' while continuing to firmly uphold the 'Three Non-Nuclear Principles.'"
Kishida added that this work had become "more difficult," in part because of disagreements over disarmament and threats from Russia.
"But it is precisely because of these circumstances that it is imperative for us to reinvigorate international momentum once more towards the realization of a 'world without nuclear weapons,'" he continued.
Kishida has been criticized in Japan by survivors for not signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, according to AP. The prime minister, for his part, has argued such an act would not be effective, since no country currently possessing nuclear weapons has signed the agreement.
Guterres, through Nakamitsu, spoke out in favor of the treaty, as well as the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
"World leaders have visited this city, seen its monuments, spoken with its brave survivors, and emerged emboldened to take up the cause of nuclear disarmament," Guterres said. "More should do so, because the drums of nuclear war are beating once again."
And he was clear about what must be done to silence them.
"The only way to eliminate the nuclear risk," Guterres said, "is to eliminate nuclear weapons."
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