![]() "Weapons with catastrophic humanitarian consequences cannot credibly be viewed as instruments of security," said Maurer.įor more information on the campaign to prohibit nuclear weapons, including a new video that can be broadcast, please visit For more information:Įnrique Mestre, ICRC Geneva, +41 or preview and download the latest ICRC video footage in broadcast quality, go to The power of many of those warheads is tens of times greater than the weapons dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. There are over 14,000 nuclear bombs in the world, thousands of which are ready to be launched in an instant. We must signal in a clear and unambiguous manner that their use, under any circumstances, would be unacceptable in humanitarian, moral and legal terms," said Rocca. "Not since the end of the Cold War has it been more urgent to call attention to catastrophic consequences and fundamental inhumanity of nuclear weapons. The two leaders said it was crucial that the TPNW becomes a new norm of international humanitarian law. Maurer and Rocca commended the states that have already joined the TPNW and encouraged all others to follow suit, ensuring the events of 1945 never occur again. For nuclear-armed states that join the treaty, it provides for a time-bound framework for the verified elimination of their nuclear weapons programme. The treaty prohibits the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. The treaty will become legally binding for countries that ratify it after 50 do so to date 40 have. Proving the wide support for a nuclear-free world, 122 states in July 2017 adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). No nation is prepared to deal with a nuclear confrontation," said Francesco Rocca, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Widespread radiation sickness, a decline in food production, and the tremendous scale of destruction and contamination would make any meaningful humanitarian response insufficient. "The international community would not be able to help all those in need after a nuclear blast. We must push all states to ban nuclear weapons and push nuclear weapons states to negotiate, in good faith, steps towards their elimination," said Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). ![]() That's an arms race, and it's frightening. Treaties to reduce nuclear arsenals and risks of proliferation are being abandoned, new types of nuclear weapons are being produced, and serious threats are being made. But today the risk of nuclear weapons being used again is high. "The horror of a nuclear detonation may feel like distant history. The indisputable evidence of their catastrophic impact makes it extremely doubtful that their use could ever comply with international humanitarian law. These developments add urgency to the international community's efforts to prohibit and eliminate these unacceptable weapons. Military incidents involving nuclear states and their allies have increased in frequency, and nuclear-armed states have made explicit threats to use nuclear weapons.Īdditionally, agreements to eliminate existing arsenals are being abandoned as new nuclear weapons are being developed, putting the world on the dangerous path of a new nuclear arms race. The 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki comes even as the risk of use of nuclear weapons has risen to levels not seen since the end of the Cold War. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Japanese Red Cross Society witnessed the unimaginable suffering and devastation, as medical and humanitarian personnel attempted, in near-impossible conditions, to assist the dying and injured. Three days later, on 9 August, a second nuclear bomb devastated the city of Nagasaki, immediately killing 39,000 people.īy 1950, an estimated 340,000 people had died because of the bombs' effects, including from illnesses caused by exposure to ionizing radiation. The nuclear bomb wiped out the city, instantly killing an estimated 70,000 people and leaving tens of thousands more suffering horrific injuries. Seventy-five years ago, on the morning of 6 August 1945, a B-29 warplane released a terrifying new weapon on Hiroshima. The International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement urges all nations to end the nuclear era. The risk of use of nuclear weapons has risen to levels not seen since the end of the Cold War.
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