International Day against Nuclear Tests 2023
Date/Time
Date(s) - 29/08/2023
All Day
Categories
Licorne test, 1971, French Polynesia.
PHOTO:The Official CTBTO Photostream
The United Nations has designated 29 August as International Day against Nuclear Tests in 2009.
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.
The international instrument to put an end to all forms of nuclear testing is the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Unfortunately, this has yet to enter into force.
2023 is also the year when, on 6 August, the mayor of Hiroshima, Mayor Matsui Kazum, plans to to urge world leaders to reject the theory of nuclear deterrence at an upcoming event to mark the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
He will urge world leaders to acknowledge that the theory of nuclear deterrence is no longer logical in light of a political leader’s recent threats to use nuclear arms. He will ask them to face reality and reject the theory of nuclear deterrence.
The mayor says he will call on the Japanese government to sign and join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and to take part as an observer at the signatories’ conference of the treaty to be held in November.
Matsui also plans to strongly urge the government to do more to support atomic bomb survivors.