New York, 26 September 2023

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

This International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons reminds us of a fundamental truth.

If the use of nuclear weapons is to be prevented, there is only one way: to eliminate them.

Any use of nuclear weapons – anywhere, whenever or under any circumstances – would trigger a humanitarian catastrophe of colossal proportions.

This is not hyperbole.

This is the timeless message carried by  the hibakusha, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I have made a commitment to them – and to the world – to do everything in my power to mobilize countries around the need to eradicate these destructive devices from the face of the earth.

It is urgent.

A worrying arms race is brewing.

The number of nuclear weapons could increase for the first time in decades.

The hard-won norms to prevent the use, spread and testing of nuclear weapons are now being undermined.

The global disarmament and non-proliferation architecture is crumbling.

As nuclear arsenals are modernized, these weapons are becoming faster, more accurate and more stealthy.

Once again, the threat of the use of nuclear weapons is being brandished.

This is sheer madness.

We need to turn the tide.

First, the nuclear-weapon States must lead the way.

I call on them to abide by their disarmament obligations and to commit themselves never to the use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances.

Secondly, we must strengthen the decades-long nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime and reaffirm our commitment to its implementation.

This regime includes the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

It also includes the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

Although it has not yet entered into force, this treaty continues to be a powerful testimony to humanity’s determination to avert once and for all the spectre of the annihilation of our world by nuclear weapons.

On behalf of all victims of nuclear testing, I urge all countries that have not yet done so to ratify the Treaty without delay and call on the nuclear-weapon States to observe a total moratorium on such testing.

Finally,  and thirdly, we must redeploy timeless tools such as dialogue, diplomacy and negotiation to ease tensions and end the nuclear threat.

This dialogue must extend to all categories of nuclear weapons.

It must also address the growing interaction between strategic and conventional weapons and the link between nuclear weapons and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Human beings must always retain control and full responsibility for any decision to use nuclear weapons.

Disarmament and conflict prevention are at the heart of the recently published policy brief on the New Agenda for Peace.

This Agenda represents a new opportunity to pave the way for a world free of nuclear weapons.

I call on all Member States to join this vital cause.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

The world has lived for too long in the shadow of nuclear weapons.

Let us move away from the precipice.

Let us usher in a new era of peace for all humanity.

Let us together write a page of history by relegating nuclear weapons to the status of vestiges of the past.