Excellencies,
On behalf of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) I am honored to address you on the occasion of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
In January 1946, less than six months after the horrific destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by nuclear weapons, and the loss of more than 140,000 lives, the United Nations General Assembly addressed nuclear disarmament as its very first action.
Acting by consensus, the General Assembly established a commission charged with making specific proposals “for control of atomic energy to the extent necessary to ensure its use only for peaceful purposes”, and “for the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.”
Eighty years later, the world seems to be walking backward and away from the goal of nuclear disarmament.
Amid growing international and regional tensions, nuclear rhetoric has increased alarmingly, including explicit and implicit threats to use nuclear weapons.
We are alarmed both by these developments and by the lack of urgent and focused collective response required of the international community.
Earlier this year, the 11th Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) ended without agreement on a final document, for a third consecutive time.
Excellencies,
The Japanese Red Cross was present when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, and is today still responding to the effects. Our Movement knows first-hand the horrific reality of nuclear weapons and the unacceptable human suffering they cause.
It is today as important as ever to focus on the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons.
Humanitarian consequences are what led the General Assembly to adopt its first resolution; and they are what drives the consistent call by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which completes the international legal regime comprehensively prohibiting weapons of mass destruction, is now signed or ratified by 101 States.
Its prohibition of nuclear weapons is a necessary and effective measure supporting the cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament, thereby advancing the implementation of Article VI of the NPT.
We therefore reiterate our call on all States to adhere to the TPNW without further delay. Joining this treaty is a practical and effective step that any State can take to respond to the growing nuclear threat.
It is a practical and effective step to address the harms and help the victims of past use and testing of nuclear weapons. And it is a practical and effective step towards the ultimate goal of the NPT: namely to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.
States with nuclear weapons bear a particular responsibility to pursue concrete, transparent, and irreversible steps towards the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals, while their allies should diminish reliance on nuclear deterrence in their security doctrines.
Excellencies, in conclusion,
We call on all States to pursue practical measures to reduce the risk of nuclear weapons being used:
First, consistently and visibly highlight the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons;
Second, condemn any threats to use nuclear weapons, and any other rhetoric that erodes the taboo against their use; and
Third, ensure compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL) at all times and undertake IHL compatibility assessments of the current nuclear doctrines and postures of nuclear-armed States.
We urge all States to pursue these measures, together with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and civil society.
Thank you.
