International Day of Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

Context:

Every year International Day of Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons is celebrated on September 26.

The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (or Nuclear Abolition Day) has been held every year on September 26 since 2014.
The day was declared by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 2013.
The aim of the day is to enhance public awareness about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination.
On this day, countries around the world are encouraged to reaffirm their commitment to nuclear disarmament.
There are currently 14,000 nuclear weapons in the world. The nine countries that possess nuclear weapons include-
- Russia
- United States
- France
- China
- United Kingdom
- Pakistan
- India
- Israel
- North Korea
Russia has the most nuclear warheads with 6,850. The United States is close behind with 6,550.

In 1963, the Partial Test Ban Treaty was signed. It banned testing of nuclear weapons in outer space and under water.
In 1967, the Treaty of Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin American and Caribbean was signed. It established the first nuclear weapon free zone.
In 2017, the Treaty of Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was signed. It is the first multilateral treaty that binded nuclear disarmament at large scale
In 2020, the 50th anniversary of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was celebrated.

START is the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that was signed between the USSR and USA in 1991.
The treaty barred the countries from using nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
- It expired in 2009.
The Strategic Offensive Reductions (SORT) was signed between the countries in 2003 and expired in 2011.
The New START treaty followed the SORT and was signed in 2010.
- It expires in 2021.
However, none of the treaties limited the piling of nuclear warheads stocked by the USA and Russia.

The decision to observe International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons was taken in 2013, by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
It called for the “urgent commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament of a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons to prohibit their possession, development, production, acquisition, testing, stockpiling, transfer and use or threat of use, and to provide for their destruction”.
This day is observed to make people aware across the globe about the threats posed by nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation.