Official proponents of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty expressed hope this week that the pact, finished 12 years ago, could soon enter into force (see GSN, Nov. 10).
"This arrangement is around the corner," said Tibor Toth, head of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization, the group responsible for implementing and verifying the treaty. "We are now turning that corner." Toth spoke at a regular meeting of the commission in Vienna.
The treaty now has 180 signatories, but a specific group of 44 nations are required to ratify the pact before it can take effect. To date, nine of those 44 have held out: China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United States. Then-President Bill Clinton was among the first world leaders to sign the pact in 1996, but a Republican-led U.S. Senate rejected the treaty in 1998.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to seek Senate approval again. Since the body last voted the treaty down, Democrats have assumed the majority and recent elections have strengthened their advantage, raising optimism among CTBT advocates that U.S. ratification could now be possible.
"We have a big political momentum for the CTBT," said the commission's chairman, Ambassador Hans Lundborg of Sweden. "Hopefully, within a couple years, we can have the treaty enter into force."
While reviewing the treaty's performance so far, the commission also reappointed Toth to serve a second four-year term as CTBTO executive secretary. He is set to remain on the job to 2013.
Toth urged the commission to work harder to persuade the holdout nations to join.
"Achieving entry into force of this treaty is a global responsibility. It is an objective we must all pursue. It is a burden we all must share," he said.
"Still, nine countries remain whose ratification is necessary for this treaty's entry into force. Each of these nine countries has made a commitment to a comprehensive ban on nuclear testing in some shape or form," he added. "This figure once stood at 44. One day it will not stand at all" (Greg Webb, Global Security Newswire, Nov. 20).