UN holidays - Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare

The memorial date, established in 2005 at the initiative of the UN member countries at the Xth Conference, is significant for achieving the security of the whole world. The date April 29 was not chosen by chance - it was on this day in 1997 that the Chemical Weapons Convention came into force, prohibiting their development, use for any purpose, and calling for the destruction of all existing stockpiles. The consequences of more than a century of existence of this weapon are terribly catastrophic. The first recorded use of chemical weapons was on April 22, 1915 near the city of Ypres (Belgium). On that tragic day of the First World War, Germany used chlorine against Russian soldiers. After the second attack, the total number of deaths approached 7 thousand, 25 thousand people were poisoned. For the first time, the Russian command encountered such a method of warfare, leading to colossal losses of human lives, and in agony. Other countries have assessed the effectiveness of this method of warfare. Until its very end (1918), despite the availability of chemical protection means, more than 1 million soldiers became victims, of which a tenth died. The weapon taken into service, with the development of the chemical industry in countries such as Italy, Japan, the USA, Germany, maximally expanded its deadly range: mustard gas (another name is “mustard gas” in memory of the events near Ypres), sarin, napalm, phosgene, and was used not only against the military, but also against civilians. The most egregious case is the real US environmental war directed against the people of Vietnam. This once again proved that the most vulnerable category is the civilian population, which continues to suffer for decades. The memorial date has a specific purpose: to convey to the entire world community the idea of ​​​​the terrible consequences of chemical weapons, the inadmissibility of not only their use, but also simply their presence. It took the UN many years for almost all countries to adopt the Convention on the Global Ban of Chemical Weapons. By celebrating this day, honoring the memory of all victims, regardless of race and nationality, UN member countries confirm the impact of chemical weapons not only on the ecology of the entire planet, but also the fact that this is one of the horrific methods of inflicting pain on ordinary people. A concrete reminder is the monument to all victims erected in The Hague, calling for the elimination of the use of terrible weapons in the future. Russia is directly involved in the commemorative day: photo exhibitions on the destruction of chemical weapons and children's drawing competitions on this topic are organized. And the final date for complete chemical disarmament of the Russian Federation is 2020.