Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

The Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has called for the speedy entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which would ban the testing of new nuclear weapons, as it marks the first ever United Nations International Day Against Nuclear Tests on 29th August. The day was proposed by Kazakhstan, and the date will be the anniversary both of the first Soviet nuclear test explosion in 1949, and of the closure of the former Soviet test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan in 1991.

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty will not enter into force until it has been ratified by all states who possessed nuclear power or research reactors at the time of the negotiation and signing of the Treaty, listed in Annex II of the Treaty. To date, nine Annex II countries have still to ratify the Treaty: China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States of America.

In letters to the ambassadors of the seven remaining Annex II states with embassies in Ireland, Irish CND has urged their governments to ratify the Treaty without delay. DPRK and Indonesia do not have embassies in Ireland.

Irish CND chairperson, Dr David Hutchinson Edgar, said, "The twenty-first century world does not need the prospect of the development of new weapons of mass destruction. It is very worrying that a tranche of countries with some level of nuclear capability, stretching from the Middle East to east Asia through regions of considerable internal and international tension, do not seem to be prepared to commit themselves not to develop new nuclear weapons. While President Obama's stated intention that the United States should ratify the Treaty during his term of office is welcome, it is vital that his words are matched with actions."

In his message for the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said, "There is real momentum behind this great cause. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference ended successfully, invigorating the nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime. The Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C. made important headway. Bold initiatives by world leaders and civil society are showing the way toward reduced arsenals and changed policies. As we mark the first International Day against Nuclear Tests, I look forward to working with all partners in a growing global movement to rid the world of the nuclear threat, rein in rising spending on nuclear weapons and bring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty into force. We must stop passing this problem to succeeding generations; we must each do our part to build a safer, more secure world today."

The International Day Against Nuclear Tests will also be marked by a special sitting of the UN General Assembly on 9th September.

Read Ban Ki-Moon's message in full http://www.un.org/en/events/againstnucleartestsday/sgmessage2010.shtml

For more information on the International Day against Nuclear Tests http://www.un.org/en/events/againstnucleartestsday/index.shtml

For more information on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty http://www.ctbto.org