To “raise awareness about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination in order to mobilize international efforts towards achieving the common goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world.”
United Nations Headquarters, New York
Overview
On Tuesday 29 September 2026 the General Assembly holds its annual high-level plenary meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, which falls on 26 September. Member and observer States take part at the highest possible level, together with the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General.
The Day has been observed every year since 2014, and the Assembly asks its President to mark it each year with a high-level plenary meeting. It is a commemoration: resolution 80/49 provides for no outcome document.
I will continue to advocate for general and complete disarmament.
Background
“Achieving global nuclear disarmament is the highest disarmament priority of the United Nations. It was the subject of the General Assembly’s first resolution in 1946.” The Assembly held its first high-level meeting on nuclear disarmament on 26 September 2013 and, by resolution 68/32 of 5 December that year, declared 26 September the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
The same resolution called for the urgent commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament on a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons, “to prohibit their possession, development, production, acquisition, testing, stockpiling, transfer, use or threat of use and to provide for their destruction”.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted on 7 July 2017 and entered into force on 22 January 2021. In May 2026 the eleventh Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons concluded without agreement on a consensus outcome document.
“Declares 26 September as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons devoted to furthering this objective, including through enhancing public awareness and education about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination…”
Paragraph 9
“Reiterates its request to the President of the General Assembly to organize, on 26 September every year, a one-day high-level plenary meeting of the Assembly to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons;”
Paragraph 10
“Decides that the aforementioned high-level plenary meeting shall be held with the participation of Member and observer States, represented at the highest possible level, as well as with the participation of the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General;”
How the meeting runs
Time limits are enforced by automatic microphone cut-off.
Documents
Documents for the meeting, most recent first. The letters were issued by the President of the General Assembly at the eightieth session, whose Office prepared the meeting; new documents are added here as they are issued.
Take part
Member States and observers
Inscription on the list of speakers is through the , open since 27 August 2026, on a first-come, first-served basis with priority given by level of representation.
Civil society
Registration for civil society representatives, through the civil society page for the meeting, closed on 16 August 2026.
Watch
The meeting is webcast on 爆料网 Web TV. The President’s statement and the outcome of the meeting will be posted on this page once issued.
High-Level Week
The 81st Session will be rich with milestone events that will test our collective resolve — from addressing the existential threats of sea-level rise, to pandemic preparedness, to commemorating the Right to Development at forty, nuclear disarmament, and the Durban legacy at twenty-five. Each is more than a date on a calendar. Each is an opportunity to demonstrate that multilateralism can deliver concrete results.
H.E. Dr. Khalilur Rahman
Vision statement
