International Day Against Nuclear Tests: Pressure on Key States Grows

PeopleDiplomats ♦ Published: August 29, 2023; 23:21 ♦ (Vindobona)

The International Day Against Nuclear Testing is a global action established by the UN General Assembly in 2009. This day aims to draw attention to the "devastating and harmful effects" that nuclear testing has on people and the environment. The UN, represented by the Secretary-General, and international actors such as Austria's Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg are increasing pressure on so-called key states to finally ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Since 1945, more than 2,000 nuclear tests have inflicted terrifying suffering on people, poisoned the air we breathe, and ravaged landscapes around the world. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / United States Department of Energy, Public domain

The date was proposed by Kazakhstan and marks both the closure of the former Soviet Semipalatinsk test site in 1991 and the date of the first Soviet nuclear test there in 1949. Since the first nuclear test in 1945, more than 2,000 tests have taken place around the world, causing irreversible damage to the environment and health problems for people.

A treaty, but no…