International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

Distinguished Ambassadors
Distinguished Speakers
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
Dear Friends:

It is a great pleasure to welcome you here at the Palais des Nations for the first observance of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. First of all, a warm thank you to our colleagues in the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and UNFOLD ZERO for organizing this event, and to Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico and New Zealand for their support – for the event today and for the resolution that is the basis of our meeting here.

Let me also extend a special welcome to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Mayors for Peace and OPANAL. All three organizations are strong and consistent advocates for nuclear disarmament. They demonstrate the importance of engagement at all levels to move this agenda forward – in national parliaments, at city level, in regional contexts, in civil society organizations, among the citizens of the world. We often lament the lack of political will for nuclear disarmament. But we must remember that political will is not only generated at leadership level; it is most often propelled by popular demand. And the IPU, Mayors for Peace and OPANAL are deeply engaged in mobilizing that popular demand. Thank you for your commitment and your very practical approach to raising awareness.

We need this commitment because the total elimination of nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth is not simply a noble goal. It is the ultimate and indispensable condition for guaranteeing long-term, meaningful international peace and security. We need to always keep this in mind, not least when sceptics claim that the total elimination of nuclear weapons is nothing but a pipedream.

Nuclear weapons are the only category of weapons of mass destruction that the international community has not yet succeeded in outlawing. What is worse: we are not really seriously trying. The Conference on Disarmament which should be the framework for the international community’s efforts to free the world from nuclear weapons through nuclear disarmament is mired in an 18-year-long stalemate. It is not only unacceptable; it is an insult to people across the world who look to the Conference to build a better and a safer future for all of us.

As long as this category of weapons exists, international peace and security will continue to be threatened. Even without an imminent risk of use of nuclear weapons in warfare, they endanger lives. Accidents can occur, and the risk of nuclear weapons falling in the hands of terrorists is real. When we see the brutality and blatant disregard for the sanctity of life displayed by terrorists and extremist groups, we all know that it is quite simply a risk that we cannot afford to run.

The film that is being previewed today explains better than all of our speeches put together how precarious our world has become in the nuclear age. And it shows also the need for all of us – at whatever level and in whatever position we may be – to act to avert nuclear disaster. This requires not just individual courage. Most importantly, it calls for collective courage, to overcome the illusion that nuclear deterrence makes the world a safer place.

I hope that the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons can help towards mobilizing greater support for nuclear disarmament. It is a shared responsibility that involves all stakeholders and all societies. And it is a responsibility that should be felt particularly strongly here in Geneva as the focal point for the world’s nuclear disarmament efforts.

Thank you very much to all of you for being here.