September 28,  2018

 

Download the statement as a PDF document here.

 

Members of the CTBTO Youth Group (CYG) congratulate Thailand on its ratification and Tuvalu on its signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) on 25 September 2018 as part of the proceedings of the United Nations General Assembly meetings. With these additional steps, adherence to the Treaty becomes closer to universal with 184 States having now signed and 167 having now ratified.

Thailand’s ratification of the CTBT completes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s commitment to the CTBT. The CYG welcomes additional young students, policymakers, scientists, and activists from ASEAN Member States, such as Thailand, to join its efforts to promote the CTBT. By doing so, the CYG also hopes to investigate more diverse applications of the Treaty and its verification technologies to further ASEAN’s goals of cooperative peace and shared prosperity. For example, unanimous ASEAN support for the CTBT positively contributes to the wider regional confidence needed to successfully denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

In regard to Tuvalu’s signature of the CTBT, this step towards its future ratification helps strengthen support for the Treaty from Pacific Forum Member States. Given the history of nuclear testing, Pacific Forum members such as Tuvalu relate to the CTBT in a unique way. The CYG also welcomes youth from Pacific Forum Member States such as Tuvalu to join its efforts. By doing so, the CYG hopes to better understand the humanitarian and environmental impacts of nuclear testing, and gear such collective memory towards reminding the world of what is possible if we do not secure the immediate entry-into-force and total universalization of the CTBT. Amongst the 16 Members of the Pacific Islands Forum, only three have yet to ratify the Treaty: Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu, while only one has yet to sign and ratify: Tonga.

In addition to the steps taken by Thailand and Tuvalu, the CYG also welcomes this week’s announcement of the UN Secretary General’s “Youth2030” Strategy. The strategy will guide the UN system in stepping up support for the empowerment of young people, while ensuring that its work fully benefits from their insights and ideas. As one of five key areas of the “Youth2030” strategy, the prioritization of support for young people to participate in peace processes is especially relevant for the CYG. It not only reaffirms commitments made under UN Security Council Resolutions 2250 and 2419, but also highlights the tangible change that young people can make in promoting tools for peace such as the CTBT.

 

Background:

 

The CTBT bans all nuclear explosions everywhere, by everyone, and for all times. Over the past 20 years since the treaty opened for signature, a verification regime has been built to ensure that no nuclear explosion goes undetected. Currently, nearly 90 percent of a planned total of 337 stations are operating around the world. The data registered by the IMS can also be used for disaster mitigation such as earthquake monitoring, tsunami warning, and the tracking of the levels and dispersal of radioactivity from nuclear accidents. The Treaty will enter into force once signed and 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.

 

About the authors:

 

CTBTO Youth Group (CYG) members actively engage in promoting the CTBT to secure its further universalization and entry-into-force. By helping raise awareness of the importance of the test-ban treaty and its verification regime, the CYG aims to revitalize the discussion around the CTBT among decision-makers, scientists, academia, civil society, and media. The views expressed in this statement are made in the personal capacity of the authors and not on behalf of the CTBTO or of the CYG as a whole. The CTBTO Youth Group is open to all young people who are interested in contributing to global peace and security.

 

Please join us! Learn more here! #Youth4CTBT

 

Signatories (A–Z):

 

  1.  Aaron Joshua Pinto

  2.  Aditi Malhotra

  3.  Ágata Swiatkiewicz

  4.  Ahmed Al Balushi

  5.  Aigerim Seitenova

  6.  Alain Ponce

  7.  Aldilla Damayanti Purnama Ratri

  8.  Alexandra Cojocaru

  9.  Ali Shahabi

  10. Antonia Reininger

  11. Anzhelika Liliya Nurgaliyeva

  12. Arthur shirichena

  13. Artyom Botov

  14. Asya Shavrova

  15. Atta ul Haq

  16. Ayano Kitano

  17. Azimbe Jumakulov

  18. Azimbek Jumakulov

  19. Baruchi Malewich

  20. Benkattas Khedidja

  21. Bora Chea

  22. Brenna Gautam

  23. Caitlin McLain

  24. Cédric van Caloen

  25. Daeyoung Kim

  26. Daria Gerasimenko

  27. David Joël La Boon

  28. Diana Kazbekova

  29. Eseoghene Christabel Okpalefe

  30. Estelita Togatorop

  31. Evan Snyder

  32. Fredrick Meni

  33. Georges Kasay

  34. Grace Liu

  35. Haithm Alworafi

  36. Hamzah Rifaat

  37. Haydar Ozan Celik

  38. Ibifuro Joy Alasia

  39. Ilya Vadimovich Kursenko

  40. Jakob Domenig

  41. Jaona Andriamampandry

  42. Jean-Elie Fontaine

  43. Jeremy Faust

  44. Joel Obengo

  45. Joelle El Sawalhi

  46. Karen Masila

  47. Kseniia Nepeina

  48. Kwangwari Marimira

  49. Lisa Seidl

  50. Maga Joelle

  51. Magdalene Wanyaga

  52. Margarita Amortegui

  53. Marianna Arghamanyan

  54. Marius Jano

  55. Mary Dickson

  56. Mary Kondakova

  57. Maximilian Hoell

  58. Meirzhan Temirbayev

  59. Meirzhan Temirbayev

  60. Melissa Samarin

  61. Metin Dokumaci

  62. Mona Saleh

  63. Monica Montgomery

  64. Montserrat Diez López

  65. Moses Karinga

  66. Muhammad Hussain

  67. Muhammad Minhaj Khan

  68. Muhammad Qasim

  69. Muhammad Sadiq

  70. Muhammad Shakir

  71. Mungkol Touch

  72. Nada Taboun

  73. Natalia Zhurina

  74. Nathalie Mayer

  75. Nelson Zhao

  76. Nikita Tsimbalist

  77. Nina Yameogo

  78. Nir Hassid

  79. Nonkululeko Maphalala

  80. Oleksiy Zarubin

  81. Olesia Pecani

  82. Paul Ploberger

  83. Philip Boahene

  84. Rachel Paik

  85. Rahul Mehta

  86. Rakotondraibe Tsiriandrimanana (Tsitsi)

  87. Rana Al-abboodi

  88. Riza Nazri

  89. Rizwan Asghar

  90. Rofida Hamad Khlifa

  91. Sabina Begic

  92. Sabina Begic

  93. Sahil Shah

  94. Samuel Luyckx

  95. Sebastian Brixey-Williams

  96. Sebastian Kohnen

  97. Setou Ouattara

  98. Shailesh Kumar

  99. Shervin Taheran

  100. Shizuka Kuramitsu

  101. Sitara Noor

  102. Sofya Bukhalina

  103. Sophie Kipkwony

  104. Sweta Basak

  105. Sylvia Mishra

  106. Thu Zar Win

  107. Uzbekov Abylay

  108. Vitaliy Dubrovin

  109. Yaa Asantewaa Prempeh

  110. Yasmin de Fraiture

  111. Yerassyl Kalikhan

  112. Yeseul Woo

  113. Yoshiko Yamada

  114. Yvonne Durowaa Ntow

  115. Zachary Berenson-Barros

  116. Zeeshan Qadir Memon

  117. Ziheng Kevin Bai

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