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Background Information on
the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
Background Information
Why is the CTBT Important?
More links for more information
Background Information
* The CTBT bans "all nuclear weapon test explosion or any
other nuclear explosion" and establishes an extensive International
Monitoring System and allows for short-notice on-site inspections.
* The (CTBT) was negotiated in Geneva by the Conference on Disarmament
and was adopted by the General Assembly as a resolution (A/RES/50/245)
on 10 September 1996 and opened for signature in September 1996.
* The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty has been signed by 160 countries
and ratified by 76.
* Under the terms of the treaty, all forty-four countries with
nuclear power plants must sign and ratify before it becomes legally
binding, or "enters into force". Thirteen of the forty-four
have not yet ratified, three have not even signed.1
* Article 14 of the CTBT allows for a special conference on accelerating
Entry Into Force if the treaty has not entered into force. 2 The
conference does not have the power to amend the treaty.
* In October of 1999 the first such Conference on Facilitating
the Entry Into Force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty
was held in Vienna. Ninety-two states unanimously adopted a Final
Declaration at that meeting hearing over fifty statements examining
measures consistent with international law to accelerate the Treaty's
ratification.
* Since the 1999 conference, the Treaty has been ratified by twenty-five
additional states, six which are in the group of forty-four states
essential for the Entry Into Force of the Treaty.
1. States that still have to ratify before the CTBT can enter into
force: Algeria, China,Colombia, Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, India, Indonesia,
Iran (Islamic Republic of), Israel, Pakistan, United States of America,
Vietnam. India, North Korea and Pakistan have not even signed the
Treaty.
2. Article XIV: "If this Treaty has not entered into force
three years after the date of the anniversary of its opening for
signature, the Depositary shall convene a Conference of the States
that have already deposited their instruments of ratification upon
the request of a majority of those States. This process shall be
repeated at subsequent anniversaries of the opening for signature
of this Treaty, until its entry into force."
Why is the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty important?
* The CTBT has been seen as an essential step toward nuclear disarmament
for over four decades. It bans all nuclear tests, anytime, anywhere
and comprehensively. Without the CTBT, the United States, Russia,
China, France the United Kingdom, India and Pakistan are not prohibited
from conducting further underground test explosions. The effort
to establish an international norm against nuclear testing must
not be abandoned after the enormous effort on the part of governments
and NGOs, especially when the ratifications of only thirteen states
is required for Entry Into Force.
* The Treaty is intended to stop the qualitative nuclear arms race.
The CTBT does not prohibit research on nuclear weapons, including
subcritical tests. But it is very difficult, if not impossible,
to develop new nuclear weapons without nuclear test explosions.
This explains why all Nuclear Weapons States have resisted such
a treaty for over four decades. Now that an agreement on the test
ban has been reached and Entry Into Force is within reach, the effort
to establish an international norm against nuclear testing must
be actively pursued. Should the CTBT not enter into force, all the
enormous effort on the part of governments and NGOs would be lost.
* The CTBT will prevent further horrendous health and environmental
damage caused by nuclear test explosions once and for all.
* The CTBT will establish a wide-ranging monitoring and verification
system, including an International Monitoring System and an International
Data Centre, which together with national technical means and ten
of thousands of civilian monitoring stations, will detect and deter
would-be testers, and therefore, will build confidence between all
nations that nuclear testing has stopped.
For More Information on the
CTBT Conference go to the websites of:
777 UN Plaza - 6th Floor - New York, NY - 10017 - Ph: 212.682.1265 - Fax: 212.286.8211 - info@reachingcriticalwill.org
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