In 2009 the UN General Assembly established 29 August as the International Day against Nuclear Tests. Since then, activists and affected communities around the world have been using this date to raise awareness about the humanitarian and environmental harm caused by nuclear tests and to call for the adoption of measures to address this legacy. During the 2023 Preparatory Committee of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) earlier this month, the delegations of Kiribati and Kazakhstan reminded that “beyond the physical harm caused by nuclear weapons and long-term genetic disturbances, victims also continue to experience post-traumatic stress disorders and other forms of trauma, as well as disruptions to cultural practices, displacement, and environmental damage on a long-term or permanent basis as a result of nuclear testing and maintenance.” 

Yet, despite the extensive evidence of the grave harm caused from all activities associated with nuclear weapons—from the mining of uranium to the processing of the fuel and building of the bomb, from the detonation of the weapon to the storage of radioactive waste—states parties to the NPT reached a new low during the recent Preparatory Committee, ending two weeks of discussions by fighting over which documents could be listed in the meeting’s procedural report. If anything, this meeting demonstrated that the NPT “will likely continue deeper into the quagmire its nuclear-armed states parties have created,” while “those acting most in the Treaty’s interest will continue to work together for nuclear disarmament, peace, and security through the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” as Ray Acheson wrote in the editorial of the latest edition of the NPT News in Review. Get the full scoop on these events and much more with our latest E-News! 

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