The United Nations (UN)’s International Day against Nuclear Tests is annually observed across the world on 29th August to bring awareness regarding the harmful effects of testing nuclear weapons.
- The day aims at calling for an end to such nuclear tests.
- 29th August 2022 marks the thirteenth International Day against Nuclear Tests.
Background:
i.The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the resolution A/RES/64/35 on 2 December 2009 and proclaimed the 29th August of every year as the International Day against Nuclear Tests.
ii.The resolution was initiated by the Republic of Kazakhstan along with several sponsors and cosponsors.
iii.The first International Day against Nuclear Tests was observed on 29th August 2010.
Why 29th August?
The 29th August was chosen to commemorate the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site on 29 August 1991.
First Nuclear Test:
i.Trinity was the code name of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, the first nuclear test conducted by the United States Army on 16 July, 1945, in a desert site in New Mexico.
ii.This nuclear test was followed by the US dropping atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
Significance:
i.The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was established in 1996 by the UNGA, which was signed and ratified by 170 nations.
ii.The International Day against Nuclear Tests highlights the urgency to impose a ban on all forms of nuclear weapons tests and use.
- It pledges to secure peace and security from the threat posed by nuclear weapons taken by the signatories of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Note-
India is not a signatory to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
