INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST NUCLEAR TESTS (29/08/2020)

On 2 December 2009, the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 29 August as the International Day against Nuclear Tests by unanimously adopting the Resolution. The Resolution calls for increasing awareness and education “about the effects of nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the need for their cessation as one of the means of achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.”

The Resolution was initiated by the Republic of Kazakhstan, together with a large number of sponsors and cosponsors with a view to commemorate the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site on 29 August 1991. The Day is meant to galvanize the United Nations, Member States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, youth networks and the media to inform, educate and advocate the necessity of banning nuclear weapon tests as a valuable step towards achieving a safer world.

Since August 29, 1949, the day of the first nuclear test at Semipalatinsk test site, and during the next four decades, the Soviet Union had carried out a total of 456 nuclear tests there. Nearly one and a half million people were affected by the consequences of nuclear testing, and an immense territory has been contaminated with radiation.

Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation are among Kazakhstan's highest global priorities. There are historical reasons for that.

Kazakhstan was the first country to take historic unprecedented steps – closed its nuclear test site, which was the second largest, and renounced its nuclear arsenal, the fourth largest in the world with over 1000 nuclear warheads. This is significant for it lead a global movement with the closure of sites in Nevada, Lop Nor and others.

Kazakhstan in cooperation with neighbouring countries established in 2009 Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in Central Asia (Semipalatinsk Treaty). It is a unique nuclear-weapons-free zone, which is the first in the northern hemisphere.

On December 7, 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration for the Achievement of a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World put forward by Kazakhstan, which calls for the total elimination of nuclear weapons as the only absolute guarantee against its use or threat of use.

Under the IAEA auspices, Kazakhstan established in 2015 the Low-Enriched Uranium Bank on its territory, which allows countries to develop civilian nuclear energy.

Kazakhstan committed to the cause of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and will stand firmly to promote world free of nuclear weapons.

Kazakhstan has an absolute historical and moral right to act as one of the leaders of the world’s anti-nuclear movement.

 

 

Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan

in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Addis-Ababa