About Nuclear Abolition Day

In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 68/32 declaring September 26 to be the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. The principal objective of the day is to “enhance public awareness and education about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination, in order to mobilize international efforts towards achieving the common goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.”

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Every year on this date, the UN holds a high-level meeting of world leaders to discuss “urgent and effective measures” to achieve global nuclear disarmament. At the same time, citizens around the world organize events and undertake actions to support nuclear weapons abolition.

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September 26 is also the anniversary of one of the times in which humanity has come perilously close to nuclear war. On this date in 1983, a nuclear weapons early warning facility in Russia detected an apparent incoming ballistic missile attack from the USA (later confirmed as a false alarm). Colonel Stanislav Petrov, Duty Officer at the facility, broke protocol by not affirming to senior command that the early warning satellites were detecting incoming nuclear missiles, thus preventing a possible ‘launch-on-warning, retaliatory nuclear strike’ from Russia, which would have triggered nuclear war. 

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See About for more background on Nuclear Abolition Day.