United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged the countries that have not yet ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to let it enter into force.
Nine countries, notably the United States and China, are still preventing the 15-year-old treaty from taking effect. The treaty bans nuclear explosions for either military or civilian purposes. “Do not wait for others to move first. Take the initiative and lead. The time for waiting has passed,” Ban said during a meeting in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly.
The CTBT — which is seen by arms-control advocates as a key measure for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons — has so far been signed by 182 countries and ratified by 154 of them. The treaty will not take force until ratified by the United States, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran and Israel who have signed but not ratified it as well as North Korea, India and Pakistan who have not signed it yet.
The unwillingness of the United States to ratify the treaty has been a key obstacle, with many analysts saying that US ratification would encourage other holdout countries to follow suit. In April 2009, US President Barack Obama raised hopes when he said he would seek US Senate ratification of the CTBT, but Washington has put the treaty on hold since then.
The CTBT also calls for a global system for monitoring nuclear explosions. The data would help authorities give earthquake and tsunami warnings and also prevent harm from the radioactive fallout of atomic bomb tests.
