Note to Correspondents

‘Putting an End to Nuclear Explosions’ Exhibit

to Open at United Nations Headquarters, 4 May

In conjunction with the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) taking place at the United Nations from 3 to 28 May, the exhibit “Putting an End to Nuclear Explosions” will open in the Main Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby on Tuesday, 4 May at 6 p.m.  The exhibit is one of two exhibits in the Stop Nuclear Arms! joint exhibition.

Guest speakers include United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Michael Douglas, United Nations Messenger of Peace.  Host of the opening and reception is Tibor Tóth, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

Mr. Douglas and Mr. Tóth will be available to speak informally with journalists from 6 p.m.

The exhibition features the history of nuclear testing and the arduous path to adopting the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).  It provides realistic impressions of the Treaty’s globe-spanning alarm system that monitors the planet for signs of a nuclear explosion.  It also shows how the system promptly detected the two recent nuclear tests in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and it illustrates how state-of-the-art technologies can help make a difference in people’s everyday lives.

Opened for signature in 1996, the CTBT bans all nuclear explosions.  The Treaty has been signed by 182 States and ratified by 151.  China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States still have to ratify for the Treaty to enter into force.

This exhibit is sponsored by the CTBTO, Vienna, Austria, and will be on display until June.

For more information on the CTBT and media opportunities during the NPT, call Annika Thunborg, CTBTO Spokesperson at tel.:  +43 699 1459 6375, or e-mail:  annika.thunborg@ctbto.org.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen at tel.:  212 963 8531 or e-mail:  arnesen@un.org; Liza Wichmann at tel.:  212 963 0089 or e-mail:  wichmann@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record