On December 2, 2009, the UN General Assembly approved the International Day against Nuclear Tests. It was decided to hold it annually on August 29. The day was not chosen by chance. In 1991, it was on August 29 that the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, issued a decree on the official closure of the infamous test site in Semipalatinsk.
The initiative to establish an International Day against Nuclear Tests came from the government of Kazakhstan, a country that had over 450 nuclear explosions and hydrogen bomb tests during the Cold War. In just 14 years (from 1949 to 1963), the total power of the nuclear charges tested near Semipalatinsk exceeded the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by 2500 times.
Clouds from ground and air explosions that went beyond the boundaries of the nuclear test site initiated radiation pollution of the eastern part of Kazakhstan.
Until now, near Semipalatinsk there is a very high mortality rate, the average life expectancy is only 40-50 years, a large percentage of oncological diseases and various pathologies in children are observed. One million three hundred thousand people are officially recognized as victims of nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site.
The establishment of the International Day against Nuclear Tests is called upon to draw people's attention to the harmful consequences that accompany any nuclear weapons tests and to talk about the need for their complete cessation.
The UN message on the occasion of the first International Day against Nuclear Explosions in 2010 notes that after Kazakhstan introduced a ban on radioactive tests, Semipalatinsk became a vivid symbol of the possibility of a world without nuclear weapons.
In 2012, it was decided to hold an international conference on August 29 in Astana on the topic "From a ban on nuclear tests to a world free of nuclear weapons." Foreign delegations from 80 countries expressed their desire to take part in it.
This conference is part of the program to implement the Declaration for a Nuclear-Free World. The event is timed to coincide with the International Day against Nuclear Tests. It is carried out by the international union of parliamentarians from more than 80 countries, which advocate the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, and the state institution of Kazakhstan "Nazarbayev Center".
The conference program is very rich. In addition to considering issues of nuclear terrorism and the need to apply the most severe sanctions against such aggressors, solving the problems of the development of a peaceful atom and global security of mankind, the conference participants are planning a trip to the territory of the Semipalatinsk test site, which has become a center for the development of new technologies in more than twenty years since its closure. …
It is also planned to adopt an Appeal from the conference participants in support of Nursultan Nazarbayev's initiatives related to disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
There is every reason to believe that this international forum will become a real event and help consolidate the efforts of the world community in creating a nuclear-free future.
