Speakers in General Assembly Observance Underscore Catastrophic Consequences of Nuclear Weapons
Speakers called on world leaders to end nuclear sabre-rattling, return to dialogue and honour disarmament commitments to prevent humanity from extinction, as the General Assembly held a high-level meeting to mark the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
“The world is sleepwalking into a new nuclear arms race — more complex, more unpredictable and even more dangerous,” warned Courtenay Rattray, Chef de Cabinet of the Office of the Secretary-General, speaking for UN Chief António Guterres. He underscored that today — 80 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki — nuclear sabre-rattling is louder than it has been in decades.
Noting the Secretary-General’s appointment of an independent scientific panel to assess the effects of nuclear war, he rejected the myth that nuclear disarmament depends on the so-called “right conditions” and emphasized that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons makes no such exception. “We know the total elimination of nuclear weapons will not happen overnight, but it will never happen if we keep waiting for the perfect conditions,” he added.
Therefore, he stressed that States possessing nuclear weapons must return to dialogue; adopt and implement transparency and confidence-building measures to prevent catastrophic miscalculation; and ensure that humans always retain full responsibility and accountability for any decision to use nuclear weapons. He further called on States to honour their Non-Proliferation Treaty commitments, ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and support victims of nuclear use and testing.
The United States and the Russian Federation must negotiate further arsenal reductions, he went on to say. “These steps alone will not build a world without nuclear weapons,” he emphasized, “but without them, we surrender our future to fear and silence the promise of peace.”
President of the General Assembly Annalena Baerbock (Germany) said that — despite treaties adopted following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — “most States have acquired nuclear weapons, while those that already possessed them have expanded their arsenals.” Reckless brinkmanship nearly unleashed catastrophe during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And, today, “the risk of miscalculation may be greater than at any point since 1945,” she underscored — fuelled by terrorism and artificial intelligence accelerating decisions “with no room for human restraint”.
While the UN provides “concrete guardrails” that build habits of restraint, “treaties alone are not enough,” she went on to say — Member States, especially nuclear powers, “must live up to them”. She stressed: “Durable security rests not in ever-growing arsenals, but in disarmament, in non-proliferation and — one day — in abolition.”
Recalling the events that transpired in Nagasaki, she evoked schoolgirls who fight for a nuclear-free world, knowing “humanity holds the power to erase civilization in a single reckless act.” For their sake, she urged: “Let us resolve that their great-granddaughters and great-grandsons will grow up in a world free of nuclear weapons.”
Pacific States Detail Consequences of Testing, Atomic-Bomb Survivor Stresses Humanity on ‘Brink of Extinction’
In the discussion that followed, several speakers from the Pacific region shared harrowing stories of their how their island nations were impacted by nuclear weapons. “It is my responsibility to share the experience of the Marshallese people, which informs the reality that nuclear weapons are an abomination and their existence a violation of human rights,” said Hilda Heine, President of the Marshall Islands.
Between 1946 and 1958, she recalled, the United States tested 67 known nuclear weapons on the Islands, including the “infamous” ‘Castle Bravo’ test in 1954. The Islands and neighbouring atolls were then subjected to a secret experiment — “Project 4.1” — to study the effects of exposure, she said, describing generational consequences including cancer, infertility, stillbirths and the birth of “jellyfish babies” — a term describing children born without a skeletal structure and with translucent skin, only to die shortly after.
“We must remember the truth: nuclear weapons, even if victorious, would leave a barren, broken world, devastating the environment and all life,” said Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, Prime Minister of Fiji. “There is no victory — only victims,” he stressed. “The residents still suffer the consequences of nuclear testing,” added Ruth Cross Kwansing, Minister for Women, Youth, Sport and Social Affairs of Kiribati, as she recalled the devastating impact on her country caused by ‘Operation Grapple’ carried out in 1958.
“Eighty years ago, many precious lives were taken in an instant by the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” recalled Japan’s representative. “The advancement of nuclear disarmament has been of the highest priority in Japan’s diplomatic efforts to ensure that such a tragedy will never be repeated,” he said. To that end, he spotlighted his country’s efforts in 2025 to promote understanding of the reality of those bombings 80 years later. “Memories of the hibakusha — or atomic bomb survivors — must be passed down to future generations, along with the 80-year record of no-use of nuclear weapons,” he stressed.
Satoshi Tanaka, representative director of Nihon Hidankyo, Japan’s Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers’ Organizations, said that — as a hibakusha himself — he felt compelled to warn those present that all of humanity could become atomic-bomb survivors like him. “It feels as though World War Three has already begun [and] the risk of the use of nuclear weapons has reached its peak.” He implored the leaders of nuclear Powers to engage in dialogue with the hibakusha, emphasizing that “humanity stands on the brink of extinction.”
Speakers Underscore Need for Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of Namibia said that the best way to honour the memory of the victims “is to ensure that this human tragedy is never again repeated”. Spotlighting the role of the Pelindaba Treaty in establishing Africa as a nuclear-weapon-free zone, she warned that the “modernization of nuclear weapons is still a major threat”.
Echoing similar sentiments and speaking for the African Group, Minister Secretary-General of the Presidency of Guinea, Amara Camara, said that Africa stands “resolutely in favour of total nuclear disarmament, verifiable and irreversible”. Condemning “repeated nuclear threats against the Palestinian people in Gaza”, he further underscored the humanitarian consequences of nuclear use and urged the “immediate dismantling” of these weapons.
Several other speakers also touched on the simmering tensions in the Middle East, with Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cuba, condemning Israel’s attacks — “with the complicity and support of the United States” — on Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities on 13 June as a flagrant violation of international law. He added that the United States’ military spending in 2024, totalling $997 billion, would have covered a quarter of the $4 trillion required to advance towards implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Mohammad Hassani-Nejad, Director-General for International Peace and Security in Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said that the United States’ moves towards “more usable nuclear weapons” is “lowering the threshold for Armageddon”. The unprovoked war of aggression launched against his country on June 2025 by Israel, a non-party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty in possession of a nuclear arsenal, with the direct involvement of the United States, a permanent member of the Security Council, was “a shocking development”, he said, reiterating his call for a nuclear-weapon-free zone to be established in the Middle East.
In that vein, the representative of Chile stressed that “Latin America was a pioneer” as he joined others from the region in spotlighting the Treaty of Tlatelolco, which established the “first densely populated zone which is free of nuclear weapons”. Nuclear disarmament must remain the highest priority, said Jeje Odongo Abubhakar, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uganda, speaking for the Non-Aligned Movement. He reiterated the urgent need to hold nuclear-weapon States accountable for their disarmament obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty through concrete, measurable and timebound benchmarks for nuclear disarmament.
States Express Varied Views on Holding Nuclear Weapons
“There is no easy path to a nuclear-free world,” added Levent Gümrükçü, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Türkiye, underscoring that the most recent attacks by a State not party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty entailed many dangerous ramifications. “It is more urgent than ever to uphold our shared commitments and preserve the centrality of the [Treaty], for which there are no viable alternatives,” he stressed. This, he added, is also in line with the goal of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to “forge a safer world for all”.
The representative of China said that the States possessing the largest nuclear arsenals bear special responsibility for disarmament; yet, they continue to build their nuclear stockpiles. Among other things, he emphasized the need for a treaty ensuring no first-use of nuclear weapons.
For his part, Sibi George, Vice Minister in India’s Ministry of External Affairs, pointed out that his country is a responsible nuclear-weapon State, committed to maintaining credible minimum deterrence with a policy of no first-use, and non-use against non-nuclear-weapon States. “Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world, achieved in a universal, verifiable and non-discriminatory manner — ensuring undiminished security for all States at the lowest possible level of armaments,” said that country’s representative.
Meanwhile, some countries — including South Africa — shared how they had voluntarily given up their nuclear weapons. “The only guarantee against the use or threat of use posed by nuclear weapons is their total elimination in a verifiable, irreversible and transparent manner,” said Zaheer Laher, Chief Director in that country’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
Akan Rakhmetullin, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, shared how his country’s “unwavering commitment to nuclear disarmament” is based on the tragic legacy of more than 450 nuclear tests conducted at the Semipalatinsk test site. Its decision to close that Soviet-era site — and voluntarily renounce the world’s fourth largest nuclear arsenal — was an act of principle, he stressed, “transforming tragedy into responsibility”.
While the former Soviet republics disarmed, the West quietly started rearming — “and today they are doing that right on our borders”, added Maxim Ryzhenkov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belarus. “We are not getting involved in the mad arms race, we are not provoking confrontation,” he said, emphasizing that — in the absence of security guarantees and trust-building measures — nuclear weapons become the last resort. He said: “Even without being used, they can deter a potential aggressor — and we can see that it works.”