The ATOM Project calls for moment of silence on August 29

"We call all the people around the world to hold a moment of silence at 11:05 a.m. local time," Honorary Ambassador of the ATOM Project Karipbek Kuyukov says. "We chose this time because when the clock is at 11:05, the hands are similar to the letter "v" which symbolises victory. This moment demonstrates the victory over fear and victory in the war for the "nuclear-weapon-free world." This year the project team plans to organize a meeting in front of the Alau Ice Palace together with the Federation of Judo Veterans. In 2012 President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev initiated the ATOM Project at a large international parliamentary conference in Astana in order to get global support of nuclear tests cessation and renunciation of nuclear weapons. More than 200,000 people from 100 countries of the world signed the ATOM Project online petition calling the world's leaders to facilitate the enactment of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. To sign the petition, please follow www.TheAtomProject.org/100k . In early August Kazakhstanis shared the pain and grief of tens of thousands of Japanese people who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings on 6 and 9 August 1945. They gathered at the Monument of Motherland Defenders on August 6 in Astana. The horrible nuclear explosions killed approximately 130,000 Japanese. Both countries share tragic nuclear past which brought an unimaginable damage to the earth and claimed the lives of millions of people within the decades. Kazakhstan which initiated to designate August 29 the International Day against Nuclear Tests remembers well how the USSR conducted more than 450 nuclear weapons test from 1949 through 1991. In this regards, it is ready to play a key role in prevention of nuclear arms proliferation through various initiatives. In his speech as of August 6, Ambassador of Japan to Kazakhstan Masayoshi Kamohara said: "Japanese nation calls the entire world not to repeat such tragedies". He noted that there are more than 16,000 units of nuclear weapons in the world and added that "this quantity is quite enough to destroy the mankind." Japan and Kazakhstan will co-chair the conference on ensuring the enactment of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in the nearest two years beginning from September. As per the Article XIV of the Treaty they assume chairmanship from Hungary and Indonesia, whose foreign affairs ministers have chaired the Conference since 2013. "Article XIV of the CNTBT reads that if the Treaty does not come into effect within three years from its signature (1996), the participating countries may require to hold the conference every two years for discussing the measures which may be adopted to accelerate the process of ratification in order to ensure the enactment of the CNBT. The forthcoming event will be the ninth Conference held since 1999," www.projectforthectbt.org website reads. CNTBT aims at prohibition of nuclear tests in all environments for any military or civil aims. The Treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996 but it will remain ineffective until the remaining eight countries - China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the USA - sign and ratify it. Despite the fact that 183 countries have already signed and 164 countries have ratified it, the above mentioned countries have not followed this step. "Two decades have almost passed since the talks on the Treaty finished. It is high time to enact it," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stressed in his statement on August 17 on the oncoming International Day against Nuclear Tests. The ATOM Project is an international campaign aimed at unification of the public support for elimination of nuclear weapons and building the nuclear-weapon-free world. The ATOM Project tells about ordinary people's stories who suffered from the nuclear tests. Its mission is to engage millions of global citizens to permanently stop nuclear weapons testing by joining together to show the world's leaders that the world's citizens deserve and demand a world without nuclear weapons testing. "We have an opportunity to remind the world of those tragic consequences of nuclear bombings and make the world take actions for ending such tests," President Nursultan Nazarbayev said taking the floor at the conference in Astana held in August 2012. "Under the ATOM Project people standing against nuclear weapons may sign the online petition thus calling all the governments of the world to renounce the nuclear tests and accelerate the enactment of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. I call all the participants of the conference and all people of goodwill to support the ATOM Project and make the nuclear-weapon-free world our common goal." "We hope that the global Moment of Silence on August 29 will inspire the world to be closer to this goal," Karipbek Kuyukov said. Kuyukov is a famous armless artist born in a family living nearby the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Testing Site.