UN high-level meeting stresses need for nuclear disarmament

In order to raise global awareness of the issue, the UN is holding this Thursday a High-Level Plenary Meeting to Commemorate and Promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

The encounter, which will be held as part of the high-level segment of the General Assembly in its 74th session, seeks to raise public awareness and education about the effects of nuclear explosions, its organizers indicated.

Achieving global nuclear disarmament is one of the oldest goals of the United Nations and was the subject of the first resolution of the General Assembly, in 1946.

According to the UN website, this multilateral agency has been at the forefront of many important diplomatic efforts aimed at boosting disarmament.

However, over 14,500 nuclear weapons remain throughout the world today and the countries that own them have well-funded long-term plans to modernize their arsenals.

More than half of the global population lives in nations that have these weapons or are members of nuclear alliances, according to UN figures.