On Monday January 23, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced his commitment to the abolition of nuclear weapons. Speaking by video message to the opening of the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva, Mr Guterres said: “As Secretary-General, I am firmly resolved to actively pursue the abolition of
On January 24, 1946, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus its very first resolution Resolution 1 (I), which established a commission of the UN Security Council to ensure ‘the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.’ UNFOLD ZERO highlights
On December 3, 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted ground-breaking Resolution 71/71, supported by over 140 countries, calling for the start of negotiations on an international treaty to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons, and affirming its decision to hold a High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament no later than 2018
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week called on governments and civil society to better utilize the UN system in order to resolve conflicts peacefully, and to facilitate arms control and disarmament. ‘The world is over-armed and peace is underfunded,’ said Mr Ban speaking at New York University for what is
On August 29, 1949 the Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear weapons test, code-named First Lightning in the eastern region of Kazakhstan. The nuclear chain reaction deposited radioactive fallout throughout the region. Over the next 40 years, the Soviet Union detonated another 455 nuclear weapons in Kazakhstan – causing horrific
On October 27, the Disarmament and International Security Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a ground-breaking resolution Taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations. The resolution establishes a UN conference in 2017 ‘to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.’ This
Those involved in Chain Reaction 2016 will have no trouble agreeing that its campaigning time has passed in the twinkling of an eye, most certainly shaking up an incredible number of cities with creative nonviolent events and actions to protest nuclear weapons activities and to celebrate nuclear disarmament initiatives. Ground
Chain Reaction activists in Berlin today ‘locked up’ a nuclear missile about to be fired in the Platz der Republik, Berlin front of the German Parliament. The 3DnukeBerlin street art emulated an actual nuclear missile in a missile silo. Peace campaigners from around the world today and members of the
[Photo: Astana Conference Building a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World at which the Astana Vision Declaration was adopted]. On 29 August 2016, political and military leaders, legislators, religious leaders, representatives of international organisations, academics, scientists, medical professionals, lawyers, youth, and other representatives of civil society from around the world met in Astana, the
UN Secretary-General’s message for the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, September 26, 2016 Nuclear disarmament is one of the founding principles of the United Nations. It was the objective of the first General Assembly resolution. Disarmament is in our DNA. I have been proud to advance