A global online civil society commemoration of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (UN Nuclear Abolition Day). This event on September 26 will include presentations, video messages, workshops, poetry and music.

It is organised by #WeThePeoples2020, an initiative of over 100 participating organizations which promotes the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and key UN days and events.

Who is participating?

The event will include presentations, video messages, workshops, poetry and music featuring Izumi Nakamitsu (United Nations), UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs; Prof Azza Karam (Netherlands), Secretary-General of Religions for Peace; Gareth Evans (Australia), Chair of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament and Former Minister for Foreign Affairs; Roger Waters (UK), Singer-Songwriter from Pink Floyd; Maria Fernanda Espinosa (Ecuador), President of the UN General Assembly from 2018-2019 and former Ecuador Minister of Foreign Affairs; Fabian Hamilton MP (UK), Shadow Minister for Peace and Disarmament; Ela Gandhi (India), Founder of the Gandhi Development Trust; Kelly Slater (USA), 11 times world surfing champion; Kathleen Burkinshaw (USA), Daughter of a Hiroshima nuclear bomb survivor and Author of The Last Cherry Blossom; Antony Owen (UK), Poet and Patron of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; Yasmeen Silva (USA), Partnerships Manager for Beyond the Bomb; Sooyoung Hwang (South Korea), Peoples Solidarity for Participatory Democracy; General Bernard Norlain (France), Former Air Defense Commander and Air Combat Commander of the French Air Force; Marzhan Nurzhan (Kazakhstan), Convenor of the Abolition 2000 Youth Network, PNND Coordinator for CIS (former Soviet) Countries; Saber Chowdhury MP (Bangladesh), Honorary President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and many more.

Details of the event

Each part will have three sessions:
Session 1: 10-12 presentations on nuclear disarmament issues
Session 2: Practical workshops on key approaches to nuclear disarmament, including using the arts, how to move the nuclear weapons budgets/investments to better things, and engaging key communities including youth, faith-based communities and policy makers.
Session 3: A panel discussion followed by Q&A on how to move the nuclear-armed states to relinquish nuclear deterrence and achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world.