nuclear-news

5 March -Online – Reversing nuclearization:

Reversing nuclearization:
From nuclear weapons in Belarus and NATO host countries to a European-Nuclear-Weapon Free Zone

Online: Thursday March 5
11am-12:30pm Eastern Time USA / 5pm-6:30pm CET
Commemorating the anniversaries of the 1954 Bravo nuclear test (Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day) and of Belarus’s 2022 decision to rescind its nuclear-weapon-free status.

Registration

Event outline:

The risks of a nuclear war by accident, miscalculation or intent have increased with various escalatory actions, including the US-Israel attack on Iran, deployment by Russia of nuclear weapons to Belarus, announcement by the U.S. President of a possible resumption of nuclear testing, expiration of the New START agreement and various provocative statements regarding possible use of nuclear weapons in current conflicts including in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Human Rights Committee affirmed in October 2018 that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is “incompatible with respect for the right to life” (under the UN Convention on Civil and Political Rights) and “may amount to a crime under international law”, and that “all States must refrain from developing, producing, testing, acquiring, stockpiling, selling, transferring and using nuclear weapons.”

This has opened the door to raising the issue of human rights and nuclear weapons policies of specific countries in the Human Rights Council. A number of submissions to the Council on this issue have proposed the establishment of regional nuclear-weapon free zones in the Arctic, Europe and North-East Asia as common security approaches to the issue. These include a submission on Belarus’ nuclear policies.

March 1 is the anniversary of the Bravo Test – the most destructive nuclear weapons test ever conducted by the United States (in 1954). February 27 is the anniversary of the date in 2022 that the Belarus government changed the constitution of Belarus, rescinding its status as a nuclear-weapon-free country.

The March 5 event marks these two days, and revives the proposal originally made by Belarus in 1990 for the establishment of a European Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. This was similar to other proposals for a European NWFZ (see A Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone in Europe Concept – Problems – Chances).

March 4, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Events