5-3-4 The Global Movement for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

President Obama of the United States (left) and President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia (right) shaking hands after signing the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START)

April 8, 2010  Prague, Czech  Courtesy of EPA / Jiji Press, Ltd.

On July 31, 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union concluded the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty(START), marking the start of bilateral reductions of strategic nuclear arms. Speaking in Prague, Czech Republic, on April 5, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama called for a world without nuclear weapons. Subsequently, the two countries agreed on further reductions and signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty(New START) on April 8, 2010. The NPT Review Conference in May that year proposed negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention, inspiring an international movement demanding the outlawing and abolition of nuclear weapons because of their adverse humanitarian impact. The international community must come together to strengthen this movement and achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons.