According to EMM, President Yang said that to rid the world of nuclear weapons, the first step is to halt nuclear testing, which fuels arms races and inflicts impacts on people and planet. Robert Floyd, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, said that following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, some 2,000 nuclear explosions took place over the next 50 years, averaging one test every week during the Cold War, and that since the Treaty opened in 1996 fewer than a dozen tests have taken place. Floyd said the International Monitoring System now includes over 300 facilities that can detect any suspected nuclear test and pinpoint its location within a few kilometres and can prove when an event was not a nuclear explosion, easing tensions after events such as earthquakes in Iran. He said the Treaty is still to enter into force, with 187 signatories and 178 ratifications, and called on all nuclear-armed States to maintain moratoria and for those yet to sign or ratify to a
ct, saying, “lets extend it all the way to 2105, without any testing.”

Vivian Okeke, Director of the IAEA Liaison Office in New York speaking for IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, said the Agency has worked to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons while making nuclear science and technology available for peaceful purposes. She said nuclear technology diagnoses and cures disease, feeds people, protects the environment and provides energy. Okeke said that in 2024 IAEA supported 151 countries and territories, including 36 least developed countries, and that the Agency continues to assist States to characterize residual radioactivity in areas affected by nuclear-weapons tests and to strengthen national capabilities for sites such as Semipalatinsk. She listed initiatives launched by the Director General — Rays of Hope, ZODIAC, NuTEC Plastics and Atoms4Food — and said that in 2024 IAEA conducted 56 peer-review and advisory services and held more than 70 training events with over 1,000 participants.

Oemwa Johnson, a youth from Kiribati and a fourth-generation survivor from Kiritimati Island, said she carries the voices of her ancestors and the lived pain of her family after tests conducted between 1957 and 1962 by the United Kingdom and the United States. She said villagers had no shelter and survivors faced lasting health issues, noting cases of premature births and early deaths and saying nuclear weapons have poisoned land, ocean and bodies and that nuclear justice means clean-up, reparations and victim assistance.

Speakers in the ensuing discussion emphasized the importance of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and called on all States, especially those listed in Annex 2 of the Treaty, to ratify it without delay. The delegate for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) said her group agrees that the mere existence of nuclear weapons represents a threat to humanity and that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons constitutes a crime against humanity, and she called on States to refrain from conducting nuclear tests, other nuclear explosions, subcritical tests and simulations.

The representative of Guinea, for the African Group, called on all countries, particularly nuclear-armed States, to consider the consequences of use and testing on human health, the environment and economic resources and warned about risks from rapid development of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making. The European Union observer noted that all its member States have ratified CTBT, that the Union has provided voluntary contributions of more than pound 29.5 million to the CTBTO and that it condemns the Russian Federation’s decision to revoke its ratification and urges the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to refrain from testing and to ratify CTBT.

Ukraine’s delegate said the Zaporizhzhia plant will remain an integral part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, rejected Russian claims as legally null and void and urged the immediate and complete withdrawal of Russian Federation forces from the plant, warning that nuclear safety is a survival test for mankind. Speaking for ASEAN, Malaysia’s representative expressed concern about a surge in the DPRK’s intercontinental ballistic-missile testing and launches and noted that all ASEAN member States have ratified CTBT, reaffirming the importance of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and noting that 2025 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Bangkok Treaty establishing a Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone.

Iraq’s delegate, for the Arab Group, recalled the first US nuclear test on 16 July 1945 in New Mexico, rejected the idea that obtaining nuclear weapons is necessary for international security and called on nuclear-armed States to fully eliminate their arsenals. He said Arab States have participated in CTBT and NPT negotiations and called on Israel to accede to the NPT. The representative of Germany, for the Group of Friends on CTBT, said the Treaty demonstrates what international cooperation can achieve and highlighted the International Monitoring System as a global network that works every day to detect tests. Japan’s delegate noted the System has 10 monitoring sites in his country and said Japan has provided capacity-building assistance to developing countries for 30 years, but he expressed concern about the DPRK’s nuclear and missile development.

The representative of the Marshall Islands recalled 67 United States atmospheric tests from 1946 to 1958, said whole islands were destroyed and fallout rained on children mistaken for snow, and said the Marshall Islands deserve acknowledgement and an apology.

Additional details

– President of the General Assembly Philémon Yang addressed the 193-member General Assembly and said nuclear testings consequences are indiscriminate and enduring and that the choice must be clear: to end nuclear testing forever.

– Robert Floyd of the CTBTO described the period after Hiroshima and Nagasaki as involving about 2,000 nuclear explosions over 50 years and said that since 1996 fewer than a dozen tests have occurred. He noted the International Monitoring System’s capacity to detect and to rule out nuclear explosions, cited its more than 300 facilities, and urged remaining States to sign and ratify CTBT and for nuclear-armed States to maintain moratoria.

– IAEA statements by Vivian Okeke outlined support to 151 countries and territories in 2024, assistance at Semipalatinsk to assess residual radioactivity and feasibility for economic use, launch of initiatives Rays of Hope, ZODIAC, NuTEC Plastics and Atoms4Food, and the conduct of 56 peer-review and advisory services and over 70 training events with over 1,000 participants in 2024.

– Test sites and historical testing cited included Kiritimati Island tests by the United Kingdom and the United States between 1957 and 1962 and United States atmospheric tests in the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1958.

– Calls in the Assembly included ratification of CTBT by Annex 2 States, maintenance of moratoria by nuclear-armed States, clean-up and victim assistance for affected communities, an immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Zaporizhzhia, restraint by the DPRK in testing and launches, and accession to the NPT by Israel.