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 Ministerial Meeting of the Friends of the CTBT at the United Nations in New York, where U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and foreign ministers from a number of nations made the case for entry into force 20 years after the treaty opened for signature. Speakers noted the current global moratorium 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.
The treaty is intended to establish a global prohibition on nuclear explosive testing, promoting nonproliferation by banning a key step in the development of new or better nuclear weapons.
The forty-four CTBT “Annex 2” nations — those that had nuclear power or research programs at the time the treaty was being negotiated — must ratify the accord 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 urged the nations to ratify the accord; Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion took the extra step of calling them out by name.
“If you don’t name the problem how can you solve it?” Dion asked.
President Barack Obama never carried through with his 2009 pledge to submit the treaty 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 global test ban, which the 15-member body adopted Friday morning.
Congressional Republicans this week filed legislation in both chambers 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. The United States is the top contributor, providing roughly $32 million annually, to the organization that operates the global web of sensor stations intended to detect any nuclear tests. The GOP lawmakers have accused the Obama administration of attempting an end-run around the Senate’s constitutional role in approving U.S. ratification of international treaties.
“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 Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller, who emphasized the United States’ support for the treaty regime without calling attention to its position as a key holdout.
A joint ministerial statement issued at the end of the slightly over hourlong meeting urged all outlying nations to sign or ratify the treaty “without delay”; condemned North Korea for its ongoing series of nuclear tests dating to 2006, and called on the regime to comply with all U.N. Security Council resolutions and its own 2005 commitment to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs; and lauded the continued development of the CTBT verification regime.
