Myanmar and Swaziland on Wednesday formally ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, bringing the total number of ratifying states to 166 but pushing the accord no closer to entry into force.
The nations deposited their instruments of ratification following the Eighth CTBT Ministerial Meeting at the United Nations in New York, where U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a number of top diplomats made the case for entry into force 20 years after the treaty opened for signature. Speakers noted the current global moratoria on nuclear testing, breached in the 21st century only by North Korea, most recently earlier this month, but said more must be done.
“My message to those states that have not signed or ratified is simple: Do not wait for others. Act now. There will never be a perfect security environment, but there is an urgent need to ban nuclear testing,” Ban said.
A joint statement issued at the end of the slightly over hourlong meeting urged all holdout nations to sign or ratify the treaty, condemned North Korea for its ongoing series of nucler tests, and lauded the continued development of the CTBT verification regime.
The forty-four CTBT “Annex 2” nations — those that had nuclear power or research programs at the time the CTBT was being negotiated — must ratify the treaty before it can enter into force. Eight nations remain: China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United States. Nearly every speaker Wednesday called on those nations to ratify the accord.
President Barack Obama never carried through with his 2009 pledge to bring the treaty back for consideration by the Senate, which rejected ratification in 1999. Instead, the United States has introduced a U.N. Security Council resolution intended to promote the test ban, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller said in her comments to the meeting. Congressional Republicans have filed legislation that would prohibit U.S. funding for the Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organization (CTBTO) if the resolution imposes any binding obligations on the United States.
“This resolution is in no way a substitute for entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which can only be secured through the procedures outlined in the treaty and the action of the U.S. Senate,” said Gottemoeller, who emphasized the United States’ support for the treaty regime, including being the No. 1 contributor to the CTBTO, without calling attention to its position as a key holdout.
