Friday , March 29 2024
Next week's conference is meant to build support for bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force.

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Conference in New York

Next week, diplomats from around the globe will meet in New York to promote the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). This treaty bans all nuclear test explosions. The treaty has not taken effect because nine nations, including the United States, have yet to ratify it.  The conference on the 24 and 25th, is meant to build support for bringing the CTBT into force.

Ambassador Florence Mangin of France is one of the conference's coordinators. She says the CTBT is now within reach because of a "new atmosphere created by the Obama administration since the speech in Prague and the American willingness to ratify the Treaty…..this conference will help the process of entry into force.”

The nine countries that have not ratified the CTBT are China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States.

The United States is participating in the conference for the first time since 1999. That same year, the U.S. Senate voted against ratifying the treaty.

For more information please visit the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization.

See also a 1999 letter from General Andrew Goodpaster to Senator Jesse Helms about ratifying the CTBT.

About William Lambers

William Lambers is the author of several books including Ending World Hunger: School Lunches for Kids Around the World. This book features over 50 interviews with officials from the UN World Food Programme and other charities discussing school feeding programs that fight child hunger. He is also the author of Nuclear Weapons, The Road to Peace: From the Disarming of the Great Lakes to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Open Skies for Peace, The Spirit of the Marshall Plan: Taking Action Against World Hunger, School Lunches for Kids Around the World, The Roadmap to End Global Hunger, From War to Peace and the Battle of Britain. He is also a writer for the History News Service. His articles have been published by newspapers including the Cincinnati Enquirer, Des Moines Register, the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Buffalo News, San Diego Union Tribune, the Providence Journal, Free Lance-Star (VA), the Bakersfield Californian, the Washington Post, Miami Herald (FL), Chicago Sun-Times, the Patriot Ledger (MA), Charleston Sunday Gazette Mail (WV), the Cincinnati Post, Salt Lake Tribune (UT), North Adams Transcript (MA), Wichita Eagle (KS), Monterey Herald (CA), Athens Banner-Herald (GA) and the Duluth News Journal. His articles also appear on History News Network (HNN) and Think Africa Press. Mr. Lambers is a graduate of the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio with degrees in Liberal Arts (BA) and Organizational Leadership (MS). He is also a member of the Feeding America Blogger Council.

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