Nuke Test Ban Resolution Prepared for Adoption Next Week

New York — A U.S.-led Security Council resolution calling for a complete end to nuclear testing as part of efforts to realize President Barack Obama’s goal of a world without nuclear weapons has gone through revisions, with adoption next week a possibility, diplomats recently indicated.

A contentious reference to Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, contained in an earlier draft obtained by Kyodo News, has been dropped from the latest version.

Diplomats said they were not surprised by the removal of the section, which included a provision for the 15-member council to authorize military or nonmilitary action to enforce the resolution.

Russia and China, comprising two of the five permanent members who wield veto powers along with Britain, France and the United States, typically object to such stringent measures.

The latest draft text also urges all states that have either not signed or ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty “to do so without delay.” This includes China and the United States, who have signed the treaty, but are the only permanent council members not to have ratified it.

The CTBT was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1996 with the aim of establishing a verifiable global ban on all types of nuclear explosives.

The treaty must be signed and ratified by the 44 countries that had nuclear reactors for research or power while the treaty was under negotiation. Besides the United States and China, the treaty has not been ratified by Egypt, Iran, Israel, North Korea, India and Pakistan.

Additionally, states are called upon to “refrain from conducting any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion and to maintain a moratoria in that regard.”

Although the CTBT has not been ratified there is a general global understanding that carrying out nuclear tests — as North Korea has — is not in line with the times.

While there have been more than 2,000 such tests carried out in the last century, North Korea stands out as the only country to continue conducting nuclear tests in the 21st century.

Their latest and largest test of a nuclear warhead last Friday coincided with the 68th anniversary of the country’s founding on Sept. 9.

Momentum is building as the CTBT reached its 20th anniversary with many suggesting it is an important step toward realizing a nuclear-free world. On Sept. 21, Japan along with Australia will host a CTBT ministerial meeting at the U.N. headquarters to press the issue further.

Obama resuscitated hopes of ridding the world of nuclear weapons, a goal among many Japanese atomic bomb survivors, called hibakusha, when he pledged to take steps toward disarmament in his landmark Prague speech in 2009.

He also became the first sitting president on May 27 to visit the peace park in Hiroshima after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Aug. 6, 1945, in the closing days of World War II.

His administration has been pressing for Senate support for the ratification of the CTBT, but efforts have so far been unsuccessful. While the treaty was signed under former Democratic President Bill Clinton, the Senate did not ratify it in 1999.

The date for the possible Security Council meeting to discuss the CTBT is not yet fixed, but there is speculation it could be held on Sept. 22 or 23 when the world’s top diplomats gather in New York for the annual debate.

Meanwhile, the permanent five Security Council members are also set to release a joint statement on the CTBT.

According to the proposed statement, the five countries, which also are nuclear weapon states, will “reaffirm our own moratoria on nuclear weapons test explosions or any other nuclear explosions pending the CTBT’s entry into force.”

They also call on other states “to do likewise, recognizing that a nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion would defeat the object and purpose of the CTBT.” (PNA/Kyodo)
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