Ready for a nuclear test ban?

September 14, 2016

UN official expects adoptation of nuclear test ban

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20160914_20/

A top UN disarmament official has expressed high expectations that the UN Security Council will soon adopt a draft resolution urging all member nations to refrain from carrying out nuclear explosive tests.

US President Barack Obama's administration compiled the draft resolution last month. Diplomatic sources say it has been submitted to the council.

UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo spoke to NHK in New York on Tuesday.

Kim said the draft resolution is likely to be put to vote when the council holds a ministerial-level meeting on disarmament next Wednesday.

He said the chances are high that it will be adopted. He added that council members are aware of the urgent need to reinforce an international framework for stopping nuclear tests.

Twenty years have passed since the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, or CTBT, was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996. But the pact has yet to take effect, partly because the US has failed to ratify it due to opposition by Congress.

Against this backdrop, Obama has urged the international community to refrain from nuclear tests through a Security Council resolution.

Attention is focused on whether it will be put to vote while the annual UN General Assembly takes place in New York over the next few weeks.