NEW-YORK — Kazakh nuclear tests survivors and anti-nuclear advocates lead discussions on nuclear justice and the lasting human and environmental toll of nuclear weapons at the third Meeting of States Parties (3MSP) to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) at the United Nations Headquarters on March 3-7.
Kuyukov’s paintings, displayed at the exhibition as part of the 3MSP TPNW. Photo credit: Nagima Abuova / The Astana Times
A survivor’s story: Breaking the silence
During a side event, 18-year-old Diana Murzagaliyeva, a fourth-generation survivor of nuclear testing at the Semipalatinsk test site, delivered a powerful testimony—starting with a symbolic act. She taped her mouth shut, representing the years she spent unable to speak.
“That’s probably how I felt until I was almost nine years old,” she said.
Murzagaliyeva was born with dysarthria, a form of cerebral palsy that paralyzed parts of her face and tongue. Doctors attributed her condition to radiation exposure from nuclear tests conducted near her hometown.
“My vocal cords didn’t function properly. While other children laughed, sang and played, I remained silent, unable to express myself,” said Murzagaliyeva.
Diana Murzagaliyeva, a fourth-generation survivor of nuclear testing, taped her mouth shut, representing the years she spent unable to speak. Photo credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías
She recalled her early years spent in hospitals and rehabilitation centers, surrounded by children with severe radiation-induced conditions. Many, she noted, were orphaned or abandoned, facing relentless bullying. By the time she was nine, she had already undergone multiple surgeries to correct her legs, which had been deformed by radiation.
Determined to turn her suffering into advocacy, she pledged to fight for the environment and children with disabilities.
“I promised myself that I would fight for the environment and for children with disabilities. I promised that I would be their eyes, their ears and their voice,” she said.
Murzagaliyeva turned to writing as a way to express herself when she could not speak, using text to convey her thoughts and emotions. At 14, she wrote a fairy tale exploring the dreams of children with disabilities and environmental challenges. A year later, she published a small edition, selling 200 copies and donating the proceeds to support sick children.
Her personal story, however, extends beyond her own struggles.
“My 42-year-old mother has been unable to hear since childhood. My grandmother had cancer and is no longer alive. My great-grandmother gave birth to nine children, four of whom who died before they were two year old,” she said.
Her great-grandmother, born in 1932 in the village of Karaul near the test site, was forced to relocate when nuclear testing began. She was pregnant during the first atomic explosion on Aug. 29, 1949, and later gave birth to a daughter who lived just for a year.
Murzagaliyeva highlighted that these stories are not just hers—they belong to countless families who have suffered in silence for generations. Standing before the audience, Murzagaliyeva marked not only a personal milestone but a call to action.
“For years, everyone thought I would never speak. But here I am, standing before you today, speaking so that all those who suffered in silence can finally be heard,” said Murzagaliyeva.
A resonating testimony: shared memories of nuclear tragedy
Rebecca Eleanor Johnson, an anti-nuclear activist since the 1980s and executive director of Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy (AIDD), was among those deeply moved by Murzagaliyeva’s testimony. Johnson, who played a key role in eliminating intermediate-range nuclear forces from Europe and advancing the TPNW, saw an unexpected connection to her past work.
Rebecca Eleanor Johnson, an anti-nuclear activist since the 1980s and executive director of AIDD. Photo credit: Nagima Abuova / The Astana Times
“I attended a side event that was showing a film about the Semipalatinsk nuclear tests. And there was the most moving testimony given by Diana (…) The film was very powerful, but her testimony was even more powerful, ” Johnson told The Astana Times.
When Murzagaliyeva mentioned that her grandmother was from Karaul, Johnson was struck by the coincidence.
“I visited Karaul in 1989 when I was the Greenpeace coordinator for a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty internationally. I was invited by Olzhas Suleimenov, who had just founded the Nevada-Semipalatinsk movement. He was organizing an international conference and I was one of the people invited, and we traveled out to Kazakhstan,” said Johnson.
Recalling a visit to a hospital in a remote village, Johnson described meeting a mother who had already lost three children to radiation-related illnesses and was caring for her last surviving son.
“I was 35 then, I think she was about that age, and she was sitting next to us. (…) I held her hands and looked at her little boy. I remember wanting to beam all sorts of energy to him to survive. I remember how much I wanted to ban nuclear testing so that there would be no other children harmed by nuclear testing,” said Johnson.
Listening to Murzagaliyeva’s speech, memories long buried resurfaced.
“Maybe that woman was even her grandmother. Who knows? But this is the human story of the terrible harm that nuclear weapons have been causing for 80 years,” she said.
Echoes of nuclear explosions by Karipbek Kuyukov
From left to right: Karipbek Kuyukov, a Kazakh painter, global anti-nuclear activist, and Kazakhstan’s Goodwill Ambassador and Yerdaulet Rakhmatulla, QNFC co-founder. Photo credit: Nagima Abuova / The Astana Times
Karipbek Kuyukov, a Kazakh painter, global anti-nuclear activist, and Kazakhstan’s Goodwill Ambassador, who was born without arms as a result of exposure to radiation from Soviet nuclear testing in Kazakhstan, also shared his testimonies.
“My life, in particular, as well as the history of Kazakhstan, epitomize the horrors of nuclear weapons testing. I was born without hands, in the small village of Egindibulak, which is 100 kilometers from the former Semipalatinsk test site, where the Soviet Union tested more than 469 nuclear devices from 1949 to 1991,” said Kuyukov.
He recalled the devastation caused by radiation exposure, from collapsed homes and poisoned livestock to severe genetic consequences. He described growing up amid the fallout, witnessing soldiers swim in radiation-soaked lakes, and families scavenging contaminated metal for survival.
Karipbek Kuyukov’s background information stand and paintings, displayed at the exhibition as part of the 3MSP TPNW. Photo credit: Nagima Abuova / The Astana Times
“Today I am already 56 years old, more than half of them I have devoted to the fight against nuclear weapons, expressing my pain through creativity, showing in my paintings all the tragedy of the consequences of nuclear tests, I call the world community to think about the main thing, about a safe future,” said Kuyukov.
Kuyukov’s paintings, displayed at the exhibition as part of the 3MSP TPNW, depict the lasting scars of nuclear tests, urging the world to act before it is too late.
“It is time to stop nuclear madness,” he said, calling for unity in the fight against nuclear weapons.
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