In High-Level Meeting Marking International Day, Secretary-General Urges Nuclear-Weapon States to ‘Stop Gambling with Humanity’s Future’, Disarm Now

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the High-Level Meeting Commemorating and Promoting the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, in New York today:

Thank you for joining us on this important day highlighting the need for the total elimination of nuclear weapons.  There should be no place for these devices of death in our world.

Nuclear weapons are a double madness.  The first madness is the existence of weapons that can wipe out entire populations, communities and cities in a single attack.  We know that any use of a nuclear weapon would unleash a humanitarian catastrophe — a nightmare spilling over borders, affecting us all.  These weapons deliver no real security or stability — only looming danger and constant threats to our very existence.

The second madness is that, despite the enormous and existential risks these weapons pose to humanity, we are no closer to eliminating them than we were 10 years ago.  In fact, we are heading in the wrong direction entirely.

Not since the worst days of the cold war has the spectre of nuclear weapons cast such a dark shadow.  Nuclear sabre-rattling has reached a fever pitch. We have even heard threats to use a nuclear weapon.  There are fears of a new arms race.

Meanwhile, the norms painstakingly established over decades against the use, spread and testing of nuclear weapons are being eroded. The first-hand, lived experience of the hibakusha — the brave survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — stand as clear reminders of where the nuclear path ends.  They continue to sound the alarm, reminding us that we cannot afford to forget the lessons learned from those horrifying nuclear attacks in 1945.

And yet, nearly 80 years later, nuclear-weapon States continue to roll the dice, resisting disarmament measures and believing that, somehow, our luck will never run out.

But, luck is not a strategy.  They must stop gambling with humanity’s future.  This starts with nuclear-weapon States honouring their commitments and meeting their disarmament obligations.

Until nuclear weapons are eliminated, these States should commit to never use them under any circumstances.  And they must demonstrate the utmost transparency in all matters related to nuclear weapons.

I also call on the Russian Federation and the United States to return to the process of nuclear arms reductions, with other nuclear-weapon States following in due course.

Disarmament and non-proliferation are two sides of the same coin.  Progress in one spurs progress in the other.  States must pursue both as a matter of urgency.

Just days ago, the Summit of the Future — and the Pact for the Future that emerged — resulted in a new global commitment to revitalize the global disarmament regime and bring our world closer to our goal of total elimination of nuclear weapons.

This goal is supported by the vast majority of Member States — including through the General Assembly’s first-ever resolution in 1946 calling for nuclear disarmament.

The time has come to take steps to ensure that a nuclear weapon is never used again.  We have spent far too long living with the threat of nuclear weapons.  Previous generations learned how to hide under their desks or flee to bunkers to escape a nuclear assault.  But, leaders cannot escape their overriding responsibility to take concrete steps to reduce and end the nuclear threat, once and for all.

The time for the total elimination of nuclear weapons is now. The United Nations stands with all Member States as we work together to build the peaceful, nuclear-weapons-free future our children and grandchildren deserve.  Thank you.