The very first thing the United Nations did, when it was founded 72 years earlier, was to try to get rid of all nuclear weapons. It was “U.N. General Assembly Resolution #1, 1946.”

At the U.N. on 7/7/17, when the Treaty was adopted by 122 countries, the front of the hall was full of ambassadors, led by Costa Rica’s Elayne White Gomez.

The back third of the hall was reserved for “Civil Society,” including the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), many other NGO’s, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and…

…a few survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who have worked toward nuclear disarmament all their lives. Known as Hibakusha, they are now in their 80’s and 90’s.

Those of us who survived became convinced that no human being should ever have to experience the inhumanity and unspeakable suffering of nuclear weapons. [They are] devices of mass murder.

–Setsuko Thurlow

So when the treaty was finally adopted by 122 countries, the ambassadors broke all their own rules against clapping, cheering, and hugging each other…