April 23, 2018
As members of the CTBTO Youth Group (CYG), we applaud the recent announcement by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that it will halt its nuclear testing programme and close the Punggye-ri test site.
We remind the world that closing a test site is not the same as closing the door to nuclear
testing, globally, once and for all. To move further in the right direction, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) must enter into force. We call upon the 166 countries that have ratified the CTBT to do everything within their spheres of influence to create conditions that encourage the remaining eight Annex 2 countries listed below to ratify.
We hope that the CTBT will feature prominently in upcoming discussions on how to build confidence in the global security system, starting with the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee meetings in Geneva this week.
We invite all youth to join our efforts and learn more about the important work needed ahead. Tomorrow begins today, and today begins with us. #Youth4CTBT
Background
The CTBT bans all nuclear explosions. The Treaty will enter into force once signed an ratified by the remaining eight nuclear technology holding countries listed in Annex 2:
China, Egypt, the DPRK, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and the United States.
Over the past 20 years since the treaty opened for signature, a verification regime has continued to be built to monitor compliance with the Treaty. Nearly 90 percent of the 337 facilities of the International Monitoring System (IMS) are already in place, and dat from the stations is constantly scrutinized to detect potential nuclear detonations.
