International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
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Join people all over the world on September 26 each year in events and actions to support the global elimination of nuclear weapons.
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.”
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.
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.
See About for more background on Nuclear Abolition Day.
Nuclear Abolition Day 2026
On September 25-26, 2026, NuclearAbolitionDay.org organised Towards a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World, a global, online, intergenerational event commemorating the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. The event included:
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Short presentations by experts from the United Nations and around the world;
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Special screenings of the documentary An Ordinary Insanity followed by discussion with the director and producer;
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Discussion of the principal calls made in the Joint Appeal for Nuclear Abolition Day;
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Short cultural performances for peace and nuclear abolition.
The event was held in four sessions spread across the world’s time zones. You can watch the video statements for the event and the full session recordings at the Nuclear Abolition Day 2026 YouTube playlist. Video statements include:
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H.E. Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs;
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Michael Douglas, Academy Award Winning Actor and UN Messenger of Peace;
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Hon. Oscar Arias, President of Costa Rica 1986 to 1990 and 2006 to 2010, Nobel Peace Laureate1987;
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Achin Vanaik, Founding member, Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, India;
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Bill Kidd, Former Member of the Scottish Parliament. Co-President, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament.
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We also recommend reading the written version of the presentation by Hon Gareth Evans, former Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Co-Chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament and Founder of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network.
For more information see the press release UN Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons – September 26: An Appeal to Get the Job Done, or visit the event webpage or flyer.
Message from the United Nations Secretary-General
Message from UN Secretary General António Guterres for the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, 2026
On this International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, we face a stark reality: the threat of nuclear catastrophe is immediate and growing.
The lesson of history is clear. Nuclear weapons provide no lasting security. Their use would inflict consequences that no nation and no people should ever endure.
Yet rising tensions, deepening mistrust, expanding military competition and the modernization of nuclear arsenals cast a dangerous shadow over our common future.
The failure of recent multilateral efforts to advance nuclear disarmament and reinforce non-proliferation commitments has demonstrated the difficulty of consensus in a divided world.
But we cannot allow setbacks to weaken our resolve. It’s time to choose dialogue over division, diplomacy over confrontation, and disarmament over destruction. States that possess nuclear weapons must honour their disarmament obligations and commit to the total elimination of nuclear weapons.
Let us act with urgency and courage and build a safer, more peaceful world for present and future generations.
(See: The Secretary-General Message for the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, 26 September, 2026).
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Video message from Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas, Hollywood actor and UN Messenger for Peace, joins Nuclear Abolition Day 2026 in a video statement prepared for Towards a Nuclear Weapon Free World, the global event organized by NuclearAbolitionDay.org commemorating the day.
In the message, Mr Douglas refers to the concept of Spaceship Earth, highlighting that all of humanity lives collectively on one planet, sharing a common Earth Ecosystem and an interconnected global community. Global cooperation, not threats of nuclear annihilation, are vital to ensure survival of Spaceship Earth, humanity and our planet.
Mr Douglas also delivered a video statement for the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons in 2025, recorded by the Global Security Institute. In his 2025 message Mr Douglas calls on "...all of us - every leader and every citizen - to insist on sanity. This time of turbulence compels a clear message: Stop threatening all our lives and our children's future. Nuclear disarmament now."
Joint Appeal for Nuclear Abolition Day
We invite individuals and organizations to endorse the Joint Appeal for Nuclear Abolition Day.
The appeal calls on governments to affirm that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible, and announce concrete plans to:
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Reduce nuclear risks and prevent nuclear war;
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Commit to achieving the global elimination of nuclear weapons within a reasonable timeframe (no later than the 100th anniversary of the UN).
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Redirect the billions spent on nuclear weapons to urgent global needs—peace, protection, and sustainable development—as envisioned in Article 26 of the UN Charter
The Appeal was initially presented to the UN High-Level Plenary Meeting on the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on September 26, 2025 by Dr. Deepshikha Kumari Vijh, a Core Team Member of NuclearAbolitionDay.org.
It was subsequently presented by Dr Vijh to the United Nations First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) on October 17, 2025 (See Civil Society Calls on UN Disarmament Committee to Stop Nuclear Weapons).
"As the First Committee convenes its 80th session, we are reminded that law, not force, must be the foundation of security. Let this session be remembered not for hesitation or delay, but as the moment when humanity chose hope over fear, and disarmament over destruction, for our planet, our life, and future generations,
yet to come.”
Dr Deepshikha Kumari Vijh presenting the Nuclear Abolition Day Appeal to the UN First Committee on October 17, 2025
Law not Force must be the foundation of our security
Stop Nuclear Weapons: Peace is in our Hands
Social media action
We invite everyone, where-ever you are in the world, to undertake the September 26 social media action Stop Nuclear Weapons: Peace is in our Hands. The action is based on a hand raised with palm facing forwards, which is a universal message to stop. Hands are also
what we use to greet each other, create things and build cooperation.
For this social media action, we use our hands or the NuclearAbolitionDay hand graphic to symbolically stop nuclear weapons and to build cooperation for a peaceful, nuclear-weapon-free world.
Below are examples. For more information and additional examples, see our Social Media page.
Anna Lebedeva (Kazakhstan), Chris Guillot (Switzerland) and Natia Ninoshvili (Georgia) doing a Stop Nuclear Weapons: Peace is in our Hands social media action in front of the United Nations in Geneva
Michael Douglas, Hollywood actor, UN Peace Messenger and supporter of NuclearAbolitionDay with STOP (nuclear weapons) on his hand.
Joining hands for peace and nuclear disarmament. At the Good Future Forum in Basel, August 2025