International Day against Nuclear Tests

The International Day against Nuclear Tests is observed on August 29. It was established on December 2, 2009, at the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly by the resolution 64/35, which was adopted unanimously.

The resolution in particular calls for increasing awareness "about the effects of nuclear weapon test explosions or any other nuclear explosions and the need for their cessation as one of the means of achieving the goal of a nuclear-weapon-free world". The resolution was initiated by Kazakhstan together with several sponsors and cosponsors to commemorate the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site on August 29, 1991.

Following the establishment of the International Day against Nuclear Tests, in May 2010 all state parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons committed themselves to "achieve the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons".

Conferences
On September 15, 2014, the Embassy of Kazakhstan in the United States in co-sponsorship with Arms Control Association, Green Cross International, the Embassy of Canada, and the ATOM Project held a conference "Nuclear Weapons Testing: History, Progress, Challenges" commemorating United Nations International Day Against Nuclear Tests. The conference took place at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. This conference was focused on the issue of nuclear weapons testing and the road forward for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. The keynote presenters included the U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest J. Moniz, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose E. Gottemoeller, the U.S. Under Secretary of Energy and NNSA Administrator Frank J. Klotz, and the Executive Secretary of CTBTO Lassina Zerbo. The participants of the conference underlined their commitment to the nuclear weapons non-proliferation.

In popular culture

 * NationStates, a popular multiplayer government simulation browser game, celebrates the International Day against Nuclear Tests in a surprising way. On August 29 of every year, nations are granted the ability to use nuclear weapons against each other, leading to a violent multifaceted nuclear war. This tradition started after the mini-games initial appearance on the site for April Fools' Day 2017, and subsequent user requests to make this a regular event.