An unnecessary evil: the discursive battle over the meaning of nuclear weapons

ICRC Humanitarian Law and Policy Blog · May 14, 2021 · 15m

The testimonies of the victims and survivors of nuclear weapons prompt us to imagine the unimaginable, think the unthinkable and give voice to the unspeakable suffering caused by atomic bombs. Marking 75 years this week since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Magnus Løvold, Policy Adviser in the Arms Unit of the ICRC’s Legal Division, calls on us to honor and remember the testimonies of survivors exposing nuclear weapons for what they really are: Nothing more – and nothing less – than horrific and unjustifiable tools of war that must be prohibited and eliminated.