UNFOLD ZERO Newsletter
Posted: 31st August 2025
Yesterday (August 29) at the United Nations in Geneva, a group of civil society organizations including UNFOLD ZERO launched NuclearAbolitionDay.org, a platform for actions and events to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (‘Nuclear Abolition Day’).
Nuclear Abolition Day has been observed annually on September 26 since 2013, when it was established by the United Nations General Assembly to enhance public awareness and education about the threat posed to humanity and the planet by nuclear weapons, and on the necessity for their total elimination. The day serves to mobilize international efforts towards achieving the common goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.
The NuclearAbolitionDay.org initiative, which is open for any anyone to join, encourages individuals and organizations around the world to organize or join an action or event on the day. It also calls on governments to announce concrete plans, at the September 26 UN High Level Meeting on nuclear disarmament, on the prevention of any use of nuclear weapons and the achievement of a nuclear-weapons-free world no later than 2045.
The initiative was launched at a special event at the UN commemorating the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. For more information see Stop Nuclear Weapons: Peace is in our Hands: New initiative launched for Nuclear Abolition Day 2025
Joint appeal to governments on NuclearAbolitionDay
NuclearAbolitionDay.org, launched at the United Nations in Geneva yesterday, includes a joint appeal from civil society to governments and legislators to:
- Affirm the inadmissibility of the threat or use of nuclear weapons;
- Implement this by standing down nuclear forces;
- Commit to achieving the global elimination of nuclear weapons no later than the 100th anniversary of the UN;
- Cut nuclear weapons budgets and investments; and
- Redirect these funds to strengthen the UN, advance peacekeeping and conflict resolution, accelerate steps to protect the climate, and meet other human and economic needs.
Endorse the Joint Appeal for Sep 26
Stop Nuclear Weapons: Peace is in our Hands
Social media action for September 26NuclearAbolitionDay.org encourages individuals and organizations to join the social media action Stop Nuclear Weapons: Peace is in our Hands. The action can be done by anyone, anywhere between now and September 26, but in particular on September 26.
A hand raised with palm facing forwards is a universal message to stop. Hands are also what we use to greet each other, create things and build cooperation. For this social media action, we use our hands to symbolically stop nuclear weapons and build cooperation for a peaceful, nuclear-weapon-free world.
The social media action is being undertaken in cooperation with Not One Nuclear Explosion, organised by Youth4Disarmament, a project of the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs. Below are some examples. For more information, please visit Stop Nuclear Weapons: Peace is in our Hands.
Peace is in our Hands social media action in front of the United Nations in Geneva on August 29, as part of StepUp4Disarmament 2025 and NuclearAbolitionDay.From left to right: Anna Lebedeva (Kazakhstan Mission to the UN), Chris Guillot (AwareNearth) and Natia Ninoshvili (PNND and Youth Fusion). Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, with N.O.N.E (Not One Nuclear Explosion) on the palm of her hand.
September 26 New York events
In New York on September 26 there will be special commemoration events building public awareness through a multimedia interactive action that bridges art and advocacy.
Rebecca Shoot, PNND’s Senior Advisor and the Co-Convener of the ImPact Coalition on Strengthening International Judicial Institutions, explains: “There is a stark dissonance between the rapid ticking of the Doomsday Clock closer than ever to midnight and the number of nuclear armed and allied States engaged in armed conflict with a retreat in the collective conscience and consciousness of the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons. Our joint actions in New York aim to close this gap – especially for younger generations for whom the specter of nuclear war may not be felt as acutely.”
Details of the New York events will be posted on NuclearAbolitionDay.org soon.
Yours sincerely
UNFOLD ZERO