‘Nuclear Weapons Deliver Only Annihilation, Not Security', Stresses Secretary-General, Marking International Day

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres' message for the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, observed on 26 September:

Nuclear weapons deliver no security - only the promise of annihilation.

The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons calls on us to remember this central lesson of the cold war, when humanity gambled with its very survival across decades.

Sadly, the shadow of nuclear annihilation is still with us and spreading fast, fuelled by divisions and mistrust, along with rising military spending, growing stockpiles and countries rattling the nuclear sabre as a means of coercion.

Humanity is headed in the wrong direction. It's time to chart a new course for lasting peace through disarmament.

In last September's Pact for the Future, Member States recommitted to the goal of the total elimination of nuclear weapons. Countries must place dialogue over division and disarmament over destruction - not through words, but through action.

On this important day, I call on States that possess nuclear weapons to lift this shadow hanging over humanity. Honour your disarmament obligations and commit to the total elimination of nuclear weapons.