By delivering a speech on behalf of the UN holder, António Guterres, the High Representative for Disarmament also warned about deepening geopolitical divisions and pointed out that the same weapons that caused so much devastation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are now being used again as tools of coercion.

Remembering the past means protecting and building peace today and in the future, he said and urged to eradicate the nuclear threat, for which he considered it essential to eliminate such weapons.

Eighty years ago, the world changed forever. In an instant, Hiroshima was engulfed in flames. Tens of thousands of lives were lost. A city was reduced to ruins and humanity crossed a threshold of no return, he said.

Today we remember those who perished, sympathize with their families and honor the survivors whose voices have become a moral force. Although their numbers are dwindling every year, their testimony and their message of peace will never leave us, he added.

He also called for work to avoid wars, defend human dignity and ensure that the tragedies of the past are not repeated.

The commitments made must lead to real change by strengthening the global disarmament regime, in particular the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, complemented by the momentum generated by the ban on nuclear weapons, he said.

The US atomic bomb on Hiroshima killed approximately 70,000 people, and a similar number died over the next five years from injuries related to the device.

Only three days later, on August 9, 1945, the aggressor army dropped a second bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki that destroyed an area of 7.7 square kilometers and left tens of thousands dead.

abo/mem/gas