Peace Action Praises UN CTBT Resolution; Urges Republican Senators to Ratify

 In nuclear testing, Nuclear Weapons, Senate, Uncategorized
titan

Titan II nuclear missile in its Cold War silo.

Washington, DC — September 23, 2016 — Peace Action, the nation’s largest peace organization, made the following statement in response to today’s first-ever CTBT resolution (number 2310) passed by the UN Security Council.  Their Senior Director for Policy and Political Affairs, Paul Kawika Martin, said:

“Peace Action praises the UN Security Council for highlighting the importance of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) which only a small handful of countries, including the U.S., refuse to ratify.  Yet, the U.S. cannot expect other countries to refrain from nuclear testing, acquiring nuclear weapons or upgrading nuclear weapons and their delivery systems if the U.S. Senate (especially Republicans) refuses to ratify the CTBT and the U.S. government plans a wasteful, one trillion dollar spending spree on the U.S. nuclear arsenal.  Republican Senators have blocked CTBT ratification, thus making the world and Americans less safe.  Even worse, some Republicans have threatened blocking funding of the CTBT Organization which effectively monitors and deters nuclear tests.  Instead of stopping critical CTBTO funds, Republicans should stop nuclear testing by ratifying the treaty.

“Another two decades cannot pass before the CTBT enters into force.  This requires the U.S to lead by ratifying and pressuring the other seven countries needed to ratify as well.”

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Founded in 1957, Peace Action (formerly SANE/Freeze), the United States’ largest peace and disarmament organization, with over 100,000 paid members and nearly 100 chapters in 36 states, works to abolish nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs, encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights and support nonmilitary solutions to the conflicts with Afghanistan and Iran. The public may learn more and take action at http://www.Peace-Action.org. For more up-to-date peace insider information, follow Peace Action’s political director on Twitter. http://twitter.com/PaulKawika

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The last of the United States’ 1,052 nuclear tests was in September 1992. President Bill Clinton was the first to sign the CTBT on September 24, 1996. Since then 183 states have signed and 166 have ratified the treaty.  Only North Korea has conducted nuclear test explosions since 1999.

The CTBT has not yet entered into force because eight states—China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United States, also known as the Annex 2 states—have failed to ratify.

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