UNITED NATIONS, Aug 30 (IPS) – In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly declared August 29 the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. The date commemorates the official closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons test site in present-day Kazakhstan on August 29, 1991; the site was the site of 456 nuclear tests between 1949 and 1989.
Between 1954 and 1984, a nuclear weapons test took place somewhere in the world every week on average, with explosions often much more violent than those of the Hiroshima bombing. Nuclear weapons exploded in the air, on and under the ground, and in the sea.
Radioactivity from these test explosions spread across the planet and deep into the environment. It can still be traced and measured today, in elephant tusks, in the coral of the Great Barrier Reef and in the deepest ocean trenches.
Meanwhile, stockpiles of nuclear weapons have grown exponentially. In the early 1980s, there were some 60,000 nuclear weapons, most of them far more powerful than the bombs used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Public outrage grew. In the 1960s, it was agreed in principle that ending explosive nuclear testing would be an essential brake on the development of nuclear weapons and thus promote non-proliferation and disarmament of nuclear weapons.
The preamble to the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty boldly proclaimed the achievement of “the cessation of all test explosions of nuclear weapons forever.” But it took nearly thirty years and hundreds of nuclear test explosions before the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was agreed in 1996. It is one of the world’s most important treaties. What a difference it has made.
Between 1945 and 1996, there were more than 2,000 nuclear weapons tests. In the 28 years since 1996, there have been fewer than a dozen. In this century, there have been only six tests, all by North Korea. The treaty relies on a network of more than 300 scientific monitoring facilities around the world that can quickly detect a nuclear test significantly smaller than the Hiroshima explosion and pinpoint its location. No state on Earth can conduct a nuclear weapons test in secret.
The CTBT has almost universal international support, with 187 states having signed it and 178 having ratified it. With ten new ratifications since 2021, there is global momentum against renewed nuclear testing, with enthusiasm particularly among smaller states. Despite these gains, the current international uncertainty challenges the global norm against nuclear testing established by the CTBT.
What if we saw nuclear testing again, or even the use of a nuclear weapon in conflict? We would see a catastrophic collapse of international trust and solidarity. A return to the days of unbridled nuclear testing would leave no state, no community safe, no one on earth untouched. There is always much talk about learning from mistakes. In this case, let us learn from successes.
The CTBT combines the best of diplomacy with cutting-edge technology for a single global common good. It builds transparency and trust, precisely when transparency and trust seem to be in short supply. On the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, the United Nations General Assembly will meet at a high level.
On this occasion, we call upon all states to be open to the bold but principled decisions needed to achieve a final global consensus under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. To end nuclear testing once and for all. Enough is enough.
IPS UN Office
Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
