International Day against Nuclear Tests: Italy calls for complete ban, “it’s imperative”

NEW YORK, AUGUST 29 – On today’s International Day Against Nuclear Teststhe Italian Mission to the United Nations sent an unequivocal message: “A complete ban on nuclear testing is imperative”.

As the Ukraine war brings nuclear rhetoric back to the front row, the Mission reaffirmed Italy’s belief in institutes like the Non Proliferation Treaty and IAEA’s role, and renewed its call to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Secretary General Antonio Guterres commented on the August 29 event, saying that it “represents a global recognition of the catastrophic and persistent damage done in the name of the nuclear arms race. It is a way to remember those who have suffered because of the folly of the atomic policy of calculated risk. And it is a wake-up call for the world to finally implement a legally binding ban on all nuclear testing.”

Since nuclear weapons testing began on 16 July 1945, over 2,000 have taken place. In the early days of nuclear testing little consideration was given to its devastating effects on human life, let alone the dangers of nuclear fallout from atmospheric tests. Hindsight and history have shown us the terrifying and tragic effects of nuclear weapons testing, especially when controlled conditions go awry, and in light of the far more powerful and destructive nuclear weapons that exist today.

On 2 December 2009, the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 29 August the International Day against Nuclear Tests by unanimously adopting resolution 64/35. The resolution calls for increasing awareness and education “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.” The resolution was initiated by the Republic of Kazakhstan, together with a large number of sponsors and cosponsors with a view to commemorating the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site on 29 August 1991. (@OnuItalia)