51ÁÔÆæ

Mr. Secretary-General,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Eighty years ago, in January 1946, the United Nations General Assembly adopted its very first resolution, in which, among other things, it called for the elimination of atomic weapons from national armaments.

It did so months after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when humanity witnessed their devastating power.

The message was unmistakable: nuclear disarmament is fundamental to humanity’s survival.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy warned this very Assembly that, “Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, …, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness. The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us.”

More than six decades later, that threat remains as alarming as ever – and it is growing.

As of January 2026, the global inventory stood at more than 12,000 nuclear warheads. Of particular concern, between 2,100 and 2,200 are kept in a state of high-operational alert on ballistic missiles, capable of being launched at very short notice.

And for the first time since the end of the Cold War, the global stockpile is expected to grow again, as new and more modern warheads enter arsenals faster than retired ones are dismantled.

Reliance on nuclear deterrence persists.

New technologies – including artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities and advanced delivery systems – are introducing additional uncertainty into command, control and decision-making.

Meanwhile, global military expenditure reached nearly $3 trillion in 2025, the eleventh consecutive annual increase, diverting resources from sustainable development and human well-being.

Taken together, these trends are eroding the guardrails that have helped prevent catastrophe for decades.

On 5 February this year, New START expired without a successor. For the first time since 1972, there are no binding limits on strategic nuclear arsenal.

The NPT Review Conference then ended without a consensus outcome, the third consecutive Review Conference to do so.

These are not abstract diplomatic setbacks. They increase the risks of arms racing, escalation, and catastrophic miscalculation.

The combination of proliferating conflicts, eroding arms-control arrangements, and renewed reliance on nuclear weapons creates a perilous moment for international peace and security.

We must change course, urgently and decisively.

The starting point must be a simple truth, reaffirmed in the Pact for the Future: a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.

Risk reduction is urgent, but reducing risk is not a substitute for disarmament.

As long as nuclear weapons exist, the danger of their use – by design, accident or miscalculation – will remain. We therefore need action on four fronts.

First, we must restore dialogue and guardrails.

I urge the superpowers to return to the negotiating table without delay and agree on a successor framework that restores verifiable limits, transparency and predictability. All nuclear-weapon States must strengthen crisis communication and avoid actions that increase nuclear risks.

Second, we must uphold and strengthen the multilateral architecture that has helped to restrain nuclear dangers for decades.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons remains the cornerstone of global efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, advance nuclear disarmament, and promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Its three mutually reinforcing pillars must be implemented fully, faithfully and without discrimination.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is indispensable in this regard. It must receive the cooperation, access, and resources needed to carry out its safeguards and verification responsibilities independently and effectively, while continuing to support the peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty has established a powerful global norm and indispensable global monitoring system. Yet, three decades after it was opened for signature, it has still not entered into force. I urge all States that have not signed or ratified it – particularly the remaining Annex 2 States – to do so without delay and call on all States to maintain the moratorium on nuclear-weapon test explosions.

Third, we must move from managing arsenals to reducing and eliminating them.

Nuclear-weapon States must fulfil their disarmament obligations and commitments through concrete, transparent, verifiable and irreversible measures.

They should reduce the role of nuclear weapons in security doctrines, lower operational readiness, prevent the expansion of arsenals, and honour security assurances, including those connected to nuclear-weapon-free zones.

States that have not yet done so should join and comply with relevant disarmament and non-proliferation instruments. We must also support existing nuclear-weapon-free zones and advance new ones on the basis of arrangements freely arrived at by the States concerned.

Fourth, we must mobilize people.

The purpose of this International Day is not only to commemorate, it is also to educate and mobilize. Survivors, civil society, youth, scientists and educators keep before us the human cost and the possibility of another path.

The voices of the hibakusha and affected communities remind us that nuclear weapons do not distinguish between soldiers and civilians, or between present and future generations.

Their testimony must remain central to our work.

Excellencies,

The history of nuclear disarmament is not only a history of setbacks. It also contains major gains.

From a peak of roughly 70,000 warheads in 1986, global inventory has fallen to about 12,000 today.

Nuclear-weapon-free zones now cover vast regions of the world.

South Africa dismantled its nuclear weapons programme.

Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine relinquished the nuclear weapons left on their territories after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

These show that disarmament works when political leaders choose to make it work.

Two years ago, through Action 25 of the Pact for the Future, Member States recommitted to the total elimination of nuclear weapons, to strengthening the disarmament and non-proliferation architecture, and to taking every possible step to prevent nuclear.

Those words must now become policy and practice.

If the United Nations is to get back to basics – to prevent the scourge of war – then nuclear disarmament must remain our highest disarmament priority, just as it was at the birth of this Organization.

So let us act with the urgency demanded by the danger, the courage demanded by history, and the responsibility we owe to present and future generations.

Let us restore and strengthen the guardrails. Let us reduce the risks. Let us eliminate the weapons.

And let us restore trust by building a world free from nuclear weapons.

I thank you.