Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies, and gentlemen,
Eighty years ago, the ICRC received the following cable from its delegate just after his arrival in Hiroshima on 29 August 1945:
“Conditions appalling. City wiped out, eighty percent all hospitals destroyed or seriously damaged, inspected two emergency hospitals, conditions beyond description. Effects of bomb mysteriously serious. Many victims apparently recovering suddenly suffer fatal relapse due to decomposition of white blood cells and other internal injuries now dying in great numbers. Estimated over one hundred thousand wounded in emergency hospitals located (in) surroundings sadly lacking bandaging materials, medicines.”
The eventual toll was not one hundred thousand wounded, but 140,000 deaths by the end of 1945, increasing further to 320,000 since, and hundreds of thousands more Hibakusha living with the physical and mental scars of the tragedy they had survived. Nagasaki was no different.
Since 1945, the destructive power of nuclear weapons has increased many thousands of times. The capacity of States and emergency responders, including the international Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, to provide assistance to the victims, has not. The catastrophic humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons are simply beyond the capacity of any humanitarian organization to address effectively.
Last year, the ICRC, the Belgian and Norwegian Red Cross Societies, and Norwegian People’s Aid, hosted two conferences, in Brussels and Oslo, highlighting the humanitarian consequences if nuclear weapons were to be used in 2025. NukeExpo brought together top experts and policy-makers for an evidence-based analysis of the risks of nuclear weapon use, the short and long-term humanitarian impacts, and available capacities to respond to the use of just one 100 kiloton nuclear detonation over a capital city.
They confirmed that the horrific scenes we witnessed in Hiroshima 80 years ago would be the same: tens of thousands of people would die immediately while hundreds of thousands would suffer horrific burn and blast injuries and radiation poisoning. Little or no help would be available to the population in or near the city centers, who would have to fend for themselves or find their way to areas dozens of kilometers away from the detonation epicentre. Even there, services would still be overwhelmed by limited resources, likely loss of communications and radiation fears. There would only be a handful of specialized burn-beds in hospitals for the treatment of many thousands of severely burned victims. Many of the decision-makers needed to mount a coherent response from government, emergency response and military circles would be among the dead.
This gruesome reality must be at the center of nuclear debates and decision-making. It is what led the highest body of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the Council of Delegates to reiterate four months ago “its long-standing and deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and about the lack of any adequate humanitarian response capacity in the event of their use”. The Movement believes that “it is extremely doubtful that nuclear weapons could ever be used in accordance with the principles and rules of IHL”. For years we have called on all States to ensure, for humanitarian reasons, that nuclear weapons are never again used, regardless of their views on the legality of use.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPMW) is a historic and long-awaited global response to the realities we have just described. We commend the 73 States Parties to this landmark international treaty. We urge the 25 remaining signatories to complete the process and adhere to the treaty, and call upon all other States to join as soon as possible. We urge those relying on nuclear weapons as part of national security strategies to recognize that nuclear weapons are a source of insecurity for most of the world. This is well reflected in the report of the TPNW’s consultative process led by Austria since the 2nd Meeting of States Parties, which we warmly welcome.
Mr President,
In this period of heightened international tensions, we as a worldwide humanitarian Movement condemn any threats to use nuclear weapons. Such threats, which are outright prohibited by the TPNW, heighten the risk that these weapons will be used by miscalculation or accident. Nuclear threats also raise serious concerns from humanitarian, legal and ethical perspectives. They are destabilizing to individuals and societies, can lead to an escalation, and provide incentives for proliferation of nuclear weapons, which runs counter to the object and purpose of both the TPNW and NPT.
Repeated threats of nuclear weapon use risk normalizing such rhetoric and undermining the nuclear taboo, which has been a factor in preventing their use over the past 80 years. Refraining from making such threats, together with consistent and unified condemnation by the entire international community, should be seen as key elements to avoid any future use of nuclear weapons.
Increased efforts are urgently needed to raise awareness of the public and policy makers about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and the persistent risk that, as long as they exist, they might be used. While a vast amount of knowledge is already available, further evidence-based research is needed to better understand the disproportionate impacts of ionizing radiation on women and children; the impacts on reproductive health and possible second-generation effects on the children of those exposed; health impacts on those exposed to past nuclear weapon testing; and the cascading effects that nuclear weapon use would have on the environment and the functioning of communications, infrastructure, the international financial system, social order and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
In this regard, we welcome the work that the Treaty’s Scientific Advisory Group has already carried out as well as the decision by the 2024 UN General Assembly to commission a study by the UN Secretary General on “Nuclear War Effects and Scientific Research”. We also support efforts within the World Health Organization to commission an update of its 1987 report on the “Effects of Nuclear War on Health and Health Services”.
Today, many individuals and communities continue to suffer daily as the result of past nuclear activities. We welcome States parties’ efforts to operationalize the positive obligations enshrined in articles 6 and 7 on victim assistance, environmental remediation and international cooperation and assistance. We urge this meeting to make substantial progress on the possible establishment of a Trust Fund to support this work, and States Parties to continue their collective efforts to ensure that affected individuals and communities can experience the positive impacts of the TPNW in the near future.
In closing, we assure you that the entire international Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement remains committed to tirelessly working towards the fulfillment of the Treaty’s promise of a nuclear weapon-free future for all humanity.
