A three-day review conference on the nuclear test-ban treaty ended at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday, calling for early ratification by the US, China, Israel, Iran and seven other countries and stressing benefits of the pact for tsunami early-warning systems.
In a final declaration, participants from 117 countries said cessation of all nuclear weapon-test explosions and all other nuclear explosions "constitutes an effective measure of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in all aspects."
Progress
"We note that significant progress has been made in signing and ratifying the [Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty - CTBT] which has achieved near universal adherence," the declaration said.
But it also noted with concern that the pact has yet to come into force nine years after it was adopted.
The CTBT cannot come into force until it is ratified by the required 44 states which had nuclear research or power facilities when it was adopted in 1996.
Only 33 have done so. The US, the world's leading nuclear power, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, China, Iran, Israel and Vietnam are among the remaining 11 countries that have not ratified
Diplomats fear that unless key countries like the US and China come into the fold, the treaty may well collapse.
"There's no change in the position of the US," said UN Under Secretary General for Disarmament Affairs Nobuyasu Abe, noting that there was no expectation that Washington would ratify it in the near future.
"We call upon all states which have not yet done so, to sign and ratify the treaty without delay," the declaration said, echoing an appeal made by UN chief Kofi Annan at the opening of the conference on Wednesday.
"The longer entry into force is delayed, the greater the risk that someone somewhere will test nuclear weapons," Annan warned. "That would be a major setback for the cause of non-proliferation and disarmament."
Stressed
Participants also stressed the importance of building up an effective, global verification regime to ensure compliance with the treaty when it comes into force.
"We agree that in addition to its essential function, the CTBT verification system currently being built would be capable of bringing scientific and civil benefits, including for tsunami-warning systems and possibly other disaster-alert systems," the participants added.
A quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Dec. 26 triggered huge waves that slammed into coastlines across the Indian Ocean, killing more than 270,000 people.
CTBT monitors detected the quake and immediately alerted both Indonesia and Thailand. Yet critics have accused countries of failing to act on the information quickly enough and not evacuating people from the coastlines.
The Vienna-based CTBT organization decided on March 4 to consider contributing to the tsunami-warning system.
Indonesia was to sign an agreement to repatriate two British nationals, including a grandmother languishing on death row for drug-related crimes, an Indonesian government source said yesterday. “The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side of the transfer is agreed,” the source said, identifying Lindsay Sandiford and 35-year-old Shahab Shahabadi as the people being transferred. Sandiford, a grandmother, was sentenced to death on the island of Bali in 2013 after she was convicted of trafficking drugs. Customs officers found cocaine worth an estimated US$2.14 million hidden in a false bottom in Sandiford’s suitcase when
CAUSE UNKNOWN: Weather and runway conditions were suitable for flight operations at the time of the accident, and no distress signal was sent, authorities said A cargo aircraft skidded off the runway into the sea at Hong Kong International Airport early yesterday, killing two ground crew in a patrol car, in one of the worst accidents in the airport’s 27-year history. The incident occurred at about 3:50am, when the plane is suspected to have lost control upon landing, veering off the runway and crashing through a fence, the Airport Authority Hong Kong said. The jet hit a security patrol car on the perimeter road outside the runway zone, which then fell into the water, it said in a statement. The four crew members on the plane, which
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner yesterday signed a coalition deal, paving the way for Sanae Takaichi to become the nation’s first female prime minister. The 11th-hour agreement with the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) came just a day before the lower house was due to vote on Takaichi’s appointment as the fifth prime minister in as many years. If she wins, she will take office the same day. “I’m very much looking forward to working with you on efforts to make Japan’s economy stronger, and to reshape Japan as a country that can be responsible for future generations,”
SEVEN-MINUTE HEIST: The masked thieves stole nine pieces of 19th-century jewelry, including a crown, which they dropped and damaged as they made their escape The hunt was on yesterday for the band of thieves who stole eight priceless royal pieces of jewelry from the Louvre Museum in the heart of Paris in broad daylight. Officials said a team of 60 investigators was working on the theory that the raid was planned and executed by an organized crime group. The heist reignited a row over a lack of security in France’s museums, with French Minister of Justice yesterday admitting to security flaws in protecting the Louvre. “What is certain is that we have failed, since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of
RSS