Statement of the President of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe Viatcheslav Kantor on the occasion of the International Day of Peace

Today, September 21, the world celebrates the International Day of Peace, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 to remind people about the importance of peacekeeping and stability, ending wars and repudiation of violence on Earth.

"This day is another reason to recall the significance of disarmament and combating nuclear proliferation, extremism, terrorism and xenophobia," said President of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe Viatcheslav Kantor.

"Today, the world is more fragile than it was yesterday. Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has become an even greater threat than it was during the Cold War. In our modern world, proliferation is intensified by the challenges of terrorism, extremism and separatism, which pose a threat to the existence of countries and regions and even the existence of the world as a whole," Kantor added.

One hundred days ago, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the WMD - We Must Disarm campaign to fight the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and promote disarmament and non-violence in the world. In particular, the United Nations Secretary-General said: "Unless we vigorously work for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, we will continue to face threats from existing nuclear weapons, as well as additional risks that more states, even terrorists, might acquire and deploy such weapons, potentially annihilating millions of people."

A few weeks afterwards, during U.S. President Barak Obama's official visit to Moscow on July 6-8, 2009, Russian and U.S. leaders reiterated their commitment to nuclear disarmament and international security.

"Our shared task today is to keep working for disarmament and non-proliferation, and to unite efforts for fighting against extremism and terrorism," Kantor said. "Unfortunately, some states and organisations are still posing a threat to the global community. They irresponsibly believe that humanity will calmly accept their abuse and dramatic declarations."

"Iran and North Korea are still major global troublemakers. Notwithstanding UNSC demands, their nuclear programmes cause instability both in the Middle East and Northeast Asia, as well as around the globe. The Iranian leadership's ongoing threats addressed to Israel undermine the basics of global security built on principles of its mutual enhancement and the commitment to repudiate threat or use of force. It is time to stop setting up one nation against another, no matter where in the world they are, Europe, the U.S., Russia or the Middle East," the Luxembourg Forum President concluded.