Almost half a world away, in a remote corner of Ukraine, a routine safety experiment at a nuclear power station went terribly wrong in 1986, resulting in what in human history became universally recognizable by a single word: Chernobyl. Hiroshima and Nagasaki should never be repeated, and it is up to the political leaders of today to ensure that they are not. Chernobyl was an accident, but humankind needs to ensure that it, too, is never repeated.

Sixteen years have passed since that tragic accident, yet a multitude of problems remain, affecting an area that is home to more than 5.5 million people. The three hardest hit countries -- Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine -- have been shouldering the major burden of helping their citizens over the years, while facing the challenge of building newly independent democratic states and a market economy.

However, the international community has not been idle, either. Much has been done to reduce the chances of repeat of such a tragedy, to provide humanitarian assistance for the victims and to develop research on the effects of large-scale low-level radiation exposure on human health, especially children, and the environment.