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Photo: Lassina Zerbo (centre), Executive Secretary of the CTBTO, with Angela Kane on his right, addresses an event in Vienna. | Credit: CTBTO

Obama Joins Japan and Kazakhstan to Campaign for CTBT

Analysis by Catherine Baumann

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) - “The security of the world demands that nations — including the United States – ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and conclude a new treaty to end the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons once and for all,” wrote U.S. President Barack Obama in his opinion article for the Washington Post on March 30 on the eve of the fourth Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.

Responding to Obama’s call, Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), tweeted: “(We) need a #CTBT summit to cast test-ban into law & stop countries like #DPRK developing #nuclear weapons.”

Obama’s clarion call for ratification of the CTBT, banning all nuclear tests everywhere and anywhere – in run-up to the end of his presidency nine months from now – is of crucial importance.

: Opinion Editor; UN INSIDER; 31 March 2016

Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, Kazakhstan view 1. Credit: aboutkazakhstan.com | voxpopuli.kz

2016 Crucial for Promoting a Nuclear Weapons Free World

By Jamshed Baruah

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN | INPS) - The 25th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and the twentieth anniversaries of the opening for signature of the treaty to ban all kinds of nuclear tests as well as of the unanimous advisory by the world’s highest court are three significant hallmarks of the year 2016.

“These historical dates are an important occasion for pooling the efforts of all countries to promote a nuclear-free world," said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on March 2 during a meeting in Astana with the heads of foreign diplomatic missions accredited in the republic.

The Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS or Semipalatinsk-21), also known as "The Polygon", was the primary testing venue for the then Soviet Union's nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk from 1949 until 1989 with little regard for their effect on the local people or environment. The full impact of radiation exposure was hidden for many years by Soviet authorities and has only come to light since the test site closed in 1991. READ IN JAPANESE

: Jamshed Baruah; UN INSIDER; 14 March 2016

UNIDO and CTBTO Express Support for 2030 Gender Equality Target

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) - The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) are determined to undertake necessary steps to make “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality”, the theme of the International Women’s Day 2016, a reality.

Director General, LI Yong, said: “UNIDO recognizes that investing in the economic empowerment of women sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive industrial development.”

He added: “Women make an enormous economic contribution, whether in businesses, as entrepreneurs, as employers or as employees, or by doing care work at home. But they also remain disproportionately affected by poverty, discrimination and exploitation.”

: Rita Joshi; UN INSIDER; 09 March 2016

From left: Sarah Bidgood, Anastasia Shavrova, Shizuka Kuramitsu, Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo, Sahil Shah, and Nelson Zhao. Credit: CTBTO

Youth Campaign for a Legally Binding Global Ban on Nuclear Tests

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) - An international group of students and young graduates has decided to campaign for North Korea and seven other hold-out states ratifying a global treaty banning all nuclear tests so that it becomes legally binding for all states.

Since the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was opened for signature twenty years ago, 183 countries have signed it, of which 164 have also ratified it, including three of the nuclear weapon States: France, Russia and the United Kingdom.

But 44 specific nuclear technology holder countries must sign and ratify before the CTBT can enter into force. Of these, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the USA are still missing. In fact, India, North Korea and Pakistan have yet to sign the CTBT.

: Jamshed Baruah; UN INSIDER; 05 March 2016

CTBTO Chief Lassina Zerbo | Credit: CTBTO

‘Ratify Treaty to Ban Nuclear Testing Before Fatigue Creeps in’

Interview with CTBTO Chief Dr Lassina Zerbo

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) - Twenty years after it was opened for signature, the CTBT has come to stay as a de facto global treaty banning all nuclear testing – “if we take North Korea outside of the scope” – but Dr Zerbo Lassina wants to see it de jure because he is concerned that the longer it takes for its entry into force, the greater is the risk of a “fatigue” creeping in that could lead to people saying: “Why are we investing in something if we don’t know when the treaty will come into force?”

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 11 February 2016

Panel discussion on Roles, Responsibilities and Challenges Maintaining the IMS Verification System | Credit: CTBTO

Japan and Kazakhstan Campaign for Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

VIENNA | TOKYO (IDN) - As the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) prepares to convene a ministerial meeting in June, Kazakhstan and Japan have reaffirmed their commitment to intensify their efforts toward entry into force of the Treaty.

During the first week of the symposium ‘Science and Diplomacy for Peace and Security’ from January 25 to February 4, representatives of the two countries in Vienna assured that they would set forth their efforts initiated by their respective foreign ministers in September 2015 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. READ IN JAPANESE

: Ramesh Jaura; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; CTBTO; 01 February 2016

Disarmament Talk with CTBTO Executive Secretary Dr Lassina Zerbo

During the symposium 'Science and Diplomacy for Peace and Security: the CTBT@20' from 25 January to 4 February 2016 at the Vienna International Centre in Austria, IDN-InDepthNews (IDN), flagship ofthe International Press Syndicate (INPS), interviewed Dr. Lassia Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). The interview focuses on what the CTBT is about, why it has not yet entered into force, and what the CTBTO is doing to overcome hurdles on way to its becoming a de jure global treaty.

: Opinion Editor; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; CTBTO; 01 February 2016

Nuclear-Test-Ban Debate Focuses on Iran and North Korea

VIENNA (IDN) - Iran and North Korea dominated the landmark symposium ‘Science and Diplomacy for Peace and Security’ organised by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) end of January in Vienna, the capital of Austria.

As chance would have it, ahead of the event, on January 16, U.S. President Barack Obama revoked a 20-year system of sanctions against Iran and Federica Mogherini, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, announced the lifting of EU economic blockade against Tehran.

: Ramesh Jaura; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; CTBTO; 31 January 2016

Achieving a nuclear test ban treaty became a major initiative of JFK's presidency. This was during the most dangerous period of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Credit: CTBTO

Banning The Bomb With Science and Diplomacy

BERLIN | VIENNA (IDN) - The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) is organising a symposium on the role of science and diplomacy for peace and security as the first in a series of events this year to push for entry into force of a law prohibiting atomic explosions by everyone and everywhere.

The ‘Science & Diplomacy for Peace & Security’ conference is being convened from January 25 to February 4 at the Vienna International Centre, the UN headquarters in the Austrian capital, in a year that marks the 20th anniversary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).