Excellencies, colleagues and friends,
My thanks to the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Kenya and the Organizing Committee of the Atomic Bombing Exhibition in Nairobi, in collaboration with UNON, for organizing this important event on the humanitarian and ecological consequences of the use and test of nuclear weapons.
Today we mark the 81st anniversary of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the International Day against Nuclear Tests, the 35th Anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site in Kazakhstan and the 20th Anniversary of the signing of the Semipalatinsk Treaty on the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia.
Nowhere has the horrific impact of nuclear weapons been more clearly defined than in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By the end of 1945, the bombings had claimed 140,000 deaths in Hiroshima and 74,000 deaths in Nagasaki. Homes, schools and businesses were vaporized. So many people were left with nowhere to go. But we all know the damage did not stop there. The local environment was poisoned. Many cancers were reported among survivors decades later. The Hibakushas, those affected by the blasts, have dedicated their lives to reminding us that we must never do this again.
While we have not seen another blast of that scale, innocent people have suffered as a result of nuclear testing. The Semipalatinsk Test Site in eastern Kazakhstan served as the primary nuclear testing ground for the Soviet Union. Over 450 nuclear tests occurred between 1949 and 1989, exposing approximately 1.5 million residents to radioactive fallout. But decades after nuclear testing ended, people near the former site continue to experience high rates of cancer, cardiovascular illnesses and intergenerational health issues.
And let us not forget the dangers we face from the aftermaths of tests, over 2,000 of which have been conducted by eight countries since 1945. For example, nuclear waste from tests could enter the environment and cause a calamity to local marine life and ecosystems if the bunkers it is stored in rupture.
Excellencies,
Despite everything we know, we live in world in which nuclear weapons continue to proliferate. As of June, there were 9,745 nuclear warheads in the world, an increase of almost five hundred since 2018. The use of even a small fraction of these weapons would not only kill millions of people. It would cause global consequences: the devastation of the ozone layer, severe and dangerous global cooling, famine and more. And we are seeing an increase in conflicts amongst nuclear powers, an increase in military spending and a worrying increase in dangerous rhetoric.
So, the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of nuclear weapons should be the framework to create a world without nuclear weapons the vision expressed clearly by hibakushas. And the impacts of ionizing radiation on people and the environment need to be studied and better understood. This is why UNEP is proud to host the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).
We cannot reverse the harm done. But we can listen to the testimony of those who suffered, including through this powerful and poignant exhibition, and do our utmost to never let it happen again.
