The right to peace

The right to life is of course at the heart of human rights, so today, on International Day of Peace, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is highlighting the importance of real action for the abolition of nuclear weapons by the year 2020. Sixty-four years after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the danger of nuclear proliferation is acute, and growing.

Trade unions around the world are supporting a petition, launched by the ITUC and our Japanese sister organisation, Rengo, which will be presented to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon at the UN's Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in New York next May. The "say no to nuclear weapons!" petition will give people the chance to register their opposition to nuclear weapons, which caused such death and destruction in Japan.

There are almost 24,000 nuclear weapons in the world today. Together these arsenals have the destructive power to cause devastation equivalent to 400,000 Hiroshima bombs, where just one bomb killed more than 140,000 people.

The (NPT) is a key global benchmark for achieving nuclear disarmament, and the ITUC is calling for the Review Conference to adopt strong and workable disarmament measures, while protecting the livelihoods of those who would be affected by the transition to peaceful production.

Owen Tudor