In a message on the occasion of the International Day against such tests, he recalled that there are almost 13,000 nuclear weapons stockpiled on the planet, while some countries are working ‘to improve their accuracy, range and destructive power’.

This year we are facing an alarming increase in global distrust and division, said Guterres, who insisted on the importance of an unanimous ban to prevent their use ‘The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, although not yet in force, remains a powerful testimony to the will of humanity to rid our world of the shadow of nuclear annihilation, once and for all, he said.

On behalf of all victims, the Secretary-General called on member states to ratify the Treaty ‘immediately and unconditionally’.

The 64th session of the UN General Assembly declared August 29 International Day against Nuclear Tests by unanimously adopting resolution 64/35.

It calls for greater awareness and education ‘about the effects of nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the need for their cessation as one of the means to achieve the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons’.

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