Nuclear weapons are the most destructive, indiscriminate and inhumane weapons ever made. A single bomb is powerful enough to destroy a whole city, with a death toll measured in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has described nuclear weapons as “unique in their destructive power, in the unspeakable human suffering they cause … and in the threat they pose to the environment, to future generations and indeed to the survival of humanity”.

Releasing vast quantities of radiation, they poison the air, land, water and our bodies, inflicting harm across national borders and across generations.

So long as they exist, there is a very real risk that they will be used again, and the consequences will be catastrophic – including for people in nations that have nothing to do with the conflict in which they are used.