Preventing Nuclear Annihilation

Nine countries, including the United States, possess approximately 12,500 nuclear warheads and are currently spending vast amounts of money maintaining and modernizing their nuclear arsenals. 

Just one of these weapons could kill millions within seconds and leave millions more without any aid. Experts suggest a full-scale nuclear war would last a little over an hour and the resulting nuclear winter could cause more than five billion deaths from starvation alone. 

“It’s not weeks or months or even years… it’s 72 minutes and it’s the end of human civilization as we know it,” says Ivana Hughes, president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. “The solution is the elimination of nuclear weapons,” says Hughes. “In 1961, John F. Kennedy at the United Nations said that we must abolish nuclear weapons before they abolish us. And that is absolutely still true.”

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation was founded in 1982 by a group of visionaries, four of whom had been soldiers whose brutal war experiences left them devoted to working towards peace efforts. Their goal was to establish an organization that could cross boundaries of activism, policy, education, and legal action to forge a path towards peace. Under the leadership of David Krieger, who passed away last December, the Foundation embarked on a wide-ranging and pioneering set of initiatives and actions to make the world a safer, nuclear weapons-free space. When Hughes took the helm in 2022, she vowed to continue this important work until the job of nuclear abolition is complete.

The Foundation plays an instrumental role in the promotion and implementation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Supported by over 100 countries in the United Nations, the Treaty entered into force in 2021, and aims to prohibit any possession and use of nuclear weapons and to remediate damages done to people and the environment from past use and testing. 

Last December, working with the republics of Kazakhstan and Kiribati, the Foundation shepherded a pivotal resolution in the United Nations General Assembly to address the injustice and damage caused by nuclear testing around the planet. The resolution marks a first major step for the world to recognize and address this damaging legacy. 

In addition to its work in the United Nations, the Foundation regularly brings together world leaders and policymakers in dialogue with civil society, the general public, and youth to amplify the voices of those seeking peace. 

The Foundation’s ultimate goal is to bring an end to the nuclear weapons age by 2045 – 100 years since they were created – with all states agreeing to total nuclear disarmament. Heeding Kennedy’s own presaging words to abolish nuclear weapons before they abolish us.