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.
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" (EIF).
The Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty
has been signed by 177 countries and ratified
by 138. Out of the 44 Annex II States (nuclear
capable states whose ratification is necessary for the EIF),
38 have ratified. Three have not even signed.
for the latest signators and ratifiers.
Article XIV of the CTBT allows for
a special conference on accelerating Entry-Into-Force if
the treaty has not yet entered-into-force. The conference
does not have the power to amend the treaty.
In October 1999, the first such
Conference on Facilitating the Entry-Into-Force of the CTBT
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.
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
(the organization of the CTBT and the Secretariat of the Conferences)
is already making great strides to 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.
The Entry-Into-Force (EIF) Conference
are opportunities for:
announcing ratifications and signatures;
calling on those states that have
not yet signed or ratified the CTBT to join the international
consensus to end nuclear testing;
urging states with active nuclear
weapon research programmes and test sites to take actions
that would reinforce the CTBT and support its goals, such
as refraining from activities at test sites that might be
construed as CTBT violations, halting research, development
and production of nuclear warheads based on modifications
of existing designs, that give them new military capabilities;
examining ways and means of removing
obstacles which delay Entry-Into-Force;
discussing and agreeing on specific
measures to convince the last holdout states to support
the test ban;
support for the Comprehensive Test-Ban
Treaty Organisation in Vienna that has made significant
progress in setting up the International Monitoring System
and International Data Center, so that the CTBT's verification
system is ready by the time the treaty enters into force;
condemning any future testing;
and,
calling upon governments, businesses
and peoples to take decisive action in reaction to any future
testing.
What can NGOs do?
contact Reaching
Critical Will, who will be coordinating an NGO statement
to be delivered to the CTBT States Parties at the Conference;
make an appointment to speak with
a representative at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or equivalent
and encourage the Foreign Minister to attend the conference
to publicly urge the CTBT hold out states to promptly ratify
the Treaty; to contact your government's mission, see RCW's
Governmental
Database;
contact the CTBTO Secretariat and
register your group to attend;
monitor the CTBT EIF progress through
the Reaching Critical Will website and react to what your
government does or does not say; and,
publicize your views and your government's
policies on the CTBT to the press in your country.
2009 Article
XIV Conference 24–25 September
2009, New York City
The fifth conference on facilitating
the Entry Into Force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
(Article XIV Conference) was held on 17-18 September
2007 at the Hofburg Congress Centre, Heldenplatz,
A-1014, Vienna, Austria.
The Treaty opened for signature eleven years ago and, with
177 signatures and 140 ratifications, is close to universality.
The Conference directed particular attention at the 44 so-called
Annex 2 States whose ratification is a precondition for the
Treaty’s entry into force. Only 34 of the 44 have already
ratified the Treaty. The ten remaining States are: China,
Colombia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
Egypt, India, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel,
Pakistan and the United States of America. The Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, India and Pakistan have
not yet signed the Treaty.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's , delivered by H.E. Sergio Duarte,
the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. Ban
remarked that the eleventh anniversay of the CTBT's opening
for signature is a time not for celebration but for "re-dedication
to the noble work that lies ahead in achieving the Treaty's
entry into force. Persistent efforts on the part of States
and civil society will be required to achieve that historic
goal."
CTBTO Executive Secretary Mr. Tibor Toth's .
He noted that since the last Article XIV conference, twenty
more states have signed or ratified the CTBT, "bringing
it significantly closer to the level of ratifications of
other WMD prohibition norms." In addition, 76 more
certified facilities of the verification regime have been
built, up to 211 from 135 in 2005. He also mentioned the
DPRK nuclear weapon test in October 2006, which was "regrettable
and disquieting" in its challenge to norm against nuclear
testing, but also validated the CTBTO's verification system,
and it "served to refocus the attention of the international
community on the relevance of the CTBT as a key disarmament
and non-proliferation instrument." He also called upon
the Annex II states who haven't signed the Treaty to "consider
the value of the CTBT for their national and international
security."
The statements from the Foreign Ministers of Austria and
Costa Rica, and , who share the presidency of the
Conference. Plassnik noted, "This shared presidency
by two CTBT Member States representing two different geographic
regions symbolizes the global support for the Treaty."
He emphasized that the collection of international organizations
in Vienna, including OPEC, UNIDO, the IAEA, and the CTBT,
provides a platform to promote new ideas on how to address
human security challenges. Meanwhile, Ugarte identified
arguments for the universalization of the CTBT, including
that the CTBT, "as an important non-proliferation instrument
. . . constrains the development and qualitative improvement
of new and more advanced nuclear weapons; it severely constrains
the capacity of non-nuclear weapon states to develop new
nuclear weapons and it prevents the proliferation of materials,
technologies and knowledge that can be used for nuclear
weapons." He also emphasized that the CTBT "not
only contributes to international, regional and national
peace and security, it also helps prevent further devastation
of human health and the global environment," and that
it "would greatly reduce the climate of distrust and
discontent which has been penetrating the field of disarmament,
which distorts all discussions and which makes it even more
difficult to address some of today's key challenges posed
by the threats of nuclear proliferation."
The
by Ambassador Jaap Ramaker, Special Representative to promote
the CTBT ratification process. Ramaker said, “the
world needs a complete ban on nuclear weapon test explosions.
It needs the CTBT. This Treaty will cap the development
of ever more destructive weapons. It constitutes the last
barrier against a nuclear programme turning into a nuclear
weapons programme.” In his capacity as Special Representative,
Ramaker had visited most of the Annex 2 non-ratifying countries.
He pointed out their primary concerns: the financial implications
and lack of resources; the need to give higher priority
to the issue of nuclear non-proliferation; and, on the positive
side, a growing interest in the concrete benefits of the
verification regime.
The NGO statement,
read by Lilly Gundacker of the Women's Federation for World
Peace International.
The , in which states "affirmed the importance
and urgency of signatures and ratifications without delay
to achieve early entry into force of the Treaty as one of
the practical steps for the systematic and progressive efforts
towards nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation".
They also called upon all states to sustain the voluntary
moratorium on nuclear explosions, and to "refrain from
acts which would defeat the object and purpose of the Treaty.
In addition, the document outlines eleven practical measures
to promote the Treaty's entry into force.
Side Events:
Monday - Tuesday, 17-18 September 2007
PTS Exhibition:
"Verifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban"
Experts from the CTBTO's technical divisions will demonstrate
how a seismic station works, how data is processed, and how
an on-site inspection is conducted. The 2007 re-release of
the CTBTO Movie "CTBT: For a Safer and More Secure World",
which includes CTBTO findings with regards to the announced
nuclear test by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
in October 2006, will also be shown in the exhibition area.
Time and Place: all day, Dachfoyer, Hofburg Congress Centre
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
VERTIC and ACA Seminar
"The CTBT Achievements, challenges and opportunities"
The Verification Research, Training and Information Centre
(VERTIC) and the Arms Control Association (ACA) will be holding
a seminar on political and verification challenges and opportunities
for the Treaty and its verification system.
Time and place: 13:00 - 15:00, Kleiner Redoutensaal, Hofburg
Congress Centre
Relevant Publications:
CTBTO Press Releases
: Summary of statements from the first
day of the Conference
: Summary of the Final Declaration from
the second day of the Conference
: Feature article on conclusion of conference
CTBTO Spectrum: 2007 Article XIV Conference Special
Edition
"," by
Dr. Rebecca Johnson
","
by Dr. Hans Blix
"," by Ambassador Jaap Rapmaker
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by Dr. Andrea Wurm
2005
Article XIV Conference
21-23 September
2005
New York, NY, USA
Parties to the Comprehensive nuclear Test-Ban Treaty gathered
in New York City for the fourth Entry-Into-Force (Article
XIV) Conference from 21 to 23 September 2005. These conferences
are held every two years so signatories to and ratifiers of
the CTBT can strategize about how to facilitate the CTBT's
early entry-into force. Although the conference this year
took place at a time when the CTBT appears particularly embattled,
it was clear that slow progress on the Treaty's entry into
force is being made. A few states, lead by the United States,
continue to refuse to ratify, but the CTBT is gradually gaining
momentum and becoming an international legal norm, through
its 176 signatures and 125 ratifications as well as its increasingly
operational verification system, two-thirds of which has now
been built.
The Conference's highlights
include:
Secretary-General to the conference. Annan told the
conference that although the treaty is an effective measure
of disarmament and non-proliferation, the delay of its entry
into force heightens the risk that "someone, somewhere,
will test nuclear weapons." He also advised the group
to take heart, because "progress on difficult nuclear
issues is possible." [see the UN press coverage of
Annan's statement ]
on his activities as Special Representative
to promote the ratification process, including his impressions
of the status of those Annex II states that have not signed
or ratified. He said he thought Vietnam's ratification could
be expected in the not too distant future. Despite Indian
Prime Minister Singh's declaration that India seeks to live
up to the same nonproliferation standards that the five
original nuclear weapon states are expected to observe,
Ramaker was given to understand that in his promotional
visits he "was not welcome in India."
as the new Executive Secretary
of the Prepatory Commission for the CTBT Organization (CTBTO).
He reported that 217 of 321 monitoring stations have been
built, 115 of which were built in the last two years. The
information flow over the last two years has also nearly
tripled, from five to 14 gigabytes of data per day.
Executive Secretary Ambassador Toth replaced Wolfgang Hoffman
who stepped down after 10 years of commendable service.
of its ratification of the
CTBT. Antigua and Barbuda informed the conference
that its instrument of ratification was being deposited
during the conference proceedings.
announcement of its intended ratification of the CTBT. Haiti
will soon be publicly announcing a Haitian law required
for them to ratify, and will deposit their ratification
as soon as the law has been made public. The connection
between disarmament and development, with arms spenditures
diverting needed money from development, and the CTBTO's
potential contributions to warning small states about seismic
disasters were both important factors in Haiti's decision
to ratify.
the United States being a no-show at the Conference, despite
being a signatory. The NGO statement advised the conference
that the one nation should not be allowed to determine whether
the entire world will continue to face nuclear annihilation.
the NGO
Statement to the Conference. The NGO statement,
endorsed by 33 NGOs, was delivered by Daryl Kimball to a
rapt audience, and can be viewed on video .
to the conference are available on the and the . The Conference agreed
to continue to work towards the early entry-into force of the
treaty, and that Ambassador Ramaker should continue to assist
the Coordinator ()
as the Special Representative to promote the ratification process
of the CTBT. The Conference once again agreed to consider establishing
a trust fund to assist with this work, although nothing came
of this recommendation when it was made in 2003. See the of the Conference for a full report on who attended
and decisions taken.
In addition to the official proceedings, NGOs attending the
conference shared the following:
