Calling Disarmament ‘Foundation of Peace’, Secretary-General, Marking International Day, Urges Nuclear Weapon States Return to Dialogue

Calling Disarmament 'Foundation of Peace', Secretary-General, Marking International Day, Urges Nuclear Weapon States Return to Dialogue

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks, delivered by Chef de Cabinet Courtenay Rattray, at the General Assembly plenary meeting on the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, in New York today:

We gather under a shadow that should have been lifted long ago. A threat born of human design - and prolonged by human folly.

Nuclear weapons continue to menace our world. And despite decades of promises, we see this threat is accelerating and evolving.

Last month, the world marked 80 years since the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Every day since then, the hibakusha - the survivors - turned their suffering into a call for peace. They were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and have stirred the global conscience. And yet every day, we see newer and even more dangerous weapons.

Nuclear testing threats returning, norms eroding, dialogue fading and the nuclear sabre rattling louder than in past decades. Hard-won progress - reductions in arsenals, the cessation of testing - these are being undone before our eyes.

We are sleepwalking into a new nuclear arms race. More complex, more unpredictable and even more dangerous.

New technologies and new domains of conflict have erased the margin for error. From cyberspace to outer space, from hypersonic missiles to deep sea drones, the risks of escalation and miscalculation are multiplying.

This is not just a crisis of weapons - it is a crisis of memory, responsibility and courage. That is why I have appointed an Independent Scientific Panel to assess the effects of nuclear war. The Panel has a mandate to ensure that our collective response to nuclear risk is grounded in rigorous scientific evidence.

We must reject the myth that disarmament depends on the so-called "right" conditions. Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty makes no such exception.

Disarmament is not the reward for peace - it is the foundation of peace.

We know the total elimination of nuclear weapons will not happen overnight, but it will never happen if we keep waiting for perfect conditions.

No more excuses, no more delays, no more ignoring legal obligations, no more abandoning future generations.

States that possess nuclear weapons must return to dialogue. They must adopt and implement transparency and confidence-building measures to prevent catastrophic miscalculation. They must also ensure that humans always retain full responsibility and accountability for any decision to use nuclear weapons.

State parties must also honour their commitments under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

I call on every State to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, ending once and for all and for all the dark legacy of nuclear tests. And every State must support the victims of nuclear use and testing - and confront the enduring harm: poisoned lands, chronic illness and lasting trauma.

I urge the United States and the Russian Federation to negotiate further arsenal reductions.

These steps alone will not build a world without nuclear weapons. But without them, we surrender our future to fear - and silence the promise of peace.

If we falter now, we condemn future generations to live forever under the shadow of our mistakes.

On this International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, let us make long needed progress to forge a world free of these weapons of extinction. Let us build that world together - with courage, conviction and concrete action.