Nuclear Test Ban Key for Other Disarmament, Regional Security Measures, Secretary-General Says in Message for International Observance

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message on the International Day against Nuclear Tests, observed on 29 August:

For nearly a decade as United Nations Secretary-General, I have witnessed many of the worst problems in the world, as well as our collective ability to respond in ways that at times seemed impossible.  Our ambitious new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change have demonstrated the power of political will to break long-standing deadlocks.  On this International Day against Nuclear Tests, I call on the world to summon a sense of solidarity commensurate with the urgent need to end the dangerous impasse on this issue.

Today marks a quarter of a century since the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakhstan, ground zero for more than 450 nuclear tests.  The victims there are joined by others scattered across Central Asia, North Africa, North America and the South Pacific.

A prohibition on all nuclear testing will end this poisonous legacy.  It will boost momentum for other disarmament measures by showing that multilateral cooperation is possible, and it will build confidence for other regional security measures, including a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction.

When I visited Semipalatinsk in 2010, I saw the toxic damage. But, I also witnessed the resolve of the victims and survivors.  I share their determination to strive for a world free of nuclear weapons.

Since its adoption 20 years ago by the General Assembly, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty has yet to enter into force.  Given the catastrophic risks posed by nuclear weapons to our collective human and environmental security — even our very existence — we must reject this stalemate.

I urge Member States to act now.  Those States whose ratification is required to bring the Treaty into force should not wait for others.  Even one ratification can act as a circuit breaker.  All States that have not done so should sign and ratify because every ratification strengthens the norm of universality and shines a harsher spotlight on the countries that fail to act.

On this Day, I call on all countries and peoples to work for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty’s entry into force as soon as possible so that we may advance toward a nuclear-weapon-free world.