{"id":12933,"date":"2024-08-29T12:40:27","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T11:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londonpost.news\/?p=12933"},"modified":"2024-08-29T12:41:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T11:41:16","slug":"enough-is-enough-end-nuclear-testing-once-and-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/analysis\/enough-is-enough-end-nuclear-testing-once-and-for-all\/2024\/08\/29\/admin1\/","title":{"rendered":"Enough is enough: End Nuclear testing once and for all"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dennis Francis<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2009 the U<\/span>nited\u00a0<\/span>N<\/span>ations<\/span>\u00a0General Assembly proclaimed 29 August the International Day Against Nuclear Tests.<\/span><\/p>\n

This date recall<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0the official closing of the Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons testing site in today\u2019s Kazakhstan on 29 August 1991<\/span>;<\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>hat one site alone\u00a0<\/span>having seen\u00a0<\/span>456 <\/span>nuclear test explosions between 1949 and 1989.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between 1954 and 1984 there was on average at least one nuclear weapons test somewhere in the world\u00a0<\/span>every week<\/span>, most with a blast far exceeding the\u00a0<\/span>bombing of\u00a0<\/span>Hiroshima<\/span>;<\/span>\u00a0n<\/span>uclear weapons exploding in the air<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0o<\/span>n and under the ground<\/span>\u00a0and i<\/span>n the sea.<\/span><\/p>\n

Radioactivity from\u00a0<\/span>these test explosions spread across the planet\u00a0<\/span>deep into the environment. It can still be\u00a0<\/span>traced and\u00a0<\/span>measured today<\/span>, i<\/span>n elephant tusks<\/span>, i<\/span>n the coral of the Great Barrier Reef<\/span>\u00a0and i<\/span>n the deepest ocean trenches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile n<\/span>uclear weapons stockpiles\u00a0<\/span>have grown<\/span>\u00a0exponentially<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>By\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>early 1980s there were some 60,000 nuclear weapons<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0m<\/span>ost far more powerful than\u00a0<\/span>the bombs used in\u00a0<\/span>Hiroshima<\/span>\u00a0and Nagasaki<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Public indignation grew<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0By the 1960s i<\/span>t was\u00a0<\/span>agreed<\/span>\u00a0in principle\u00a0<\/span>that ending explosive nuclear tests would be a vital brake on\u00a0<\/span>developing<\/span>\u00a0nuclear weapons<\/span> and there by <\/span>promote nuclear\u00a0<\/span>non-proliferation and\u00a0<\/span>disarmament.<\/span>\u00a0The preamble\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968<\/span>\u00a0talked\u00a0<\/span>b<\/span>oldly\u00a0<\/span>of\u00a0<\/span>achievi<\/span>ng\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span>the discontinuance of all test explosions of nuclear weapons for all time<\/span>\u2019<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But\u00a0<\/span>then\u00a0<\/span>i<\/span>t<\/span>\u00a0took almost thirty more years<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>hundreds<\/span>\u00a0more nuclear test explosions before the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty\u00a0<\/span>(CTBT)\u00a0<\/span>was<\/span>\u00a0agreed in 1996.<\/span>\u00a0This is one of the\u00a0<\/span>world\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>landmark<\/span>\u00a0t<\/span>reatie<\/span>s<\/span>. W<\/span>hat a<\/span>\u00a0difference\u00a0<\/span>it<\/span>\u00a0has<\/span>\u00a0made<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between<\/span>\u00a01945\u00a0<\/span>and<\/span>\u00a01996<\/span>\u00a0there were\u00a0<\/span>more than\u00a0<\/span>two thousand<\/span>\u00a0nuclear\u00a0<\/span>weapons\u00a0<\/span>tests.\u00a0<\/span>In the 28 years since 1996,\u00a0<\/span>there have been\u00a0<\/span>fewer than a dozen. In this century\u00a0<\/span>only six tests have been conducted<\/span>, all by\u00a0<\/span>North Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n

The<\/span>\u00a0Treaty\u00a0<\/span>relies on\u00a0<\/span>a network of over 300 scientific monitoring\u00a0<\/span>facilities\u00a0<\/span>around the world\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span>can\u00a0<\/span>quickly\u00a0<\/span>detect\u00a0<\/span>a nuclear test<\/span>\u00a0notably smaller than the Hiroshima explosion and pinpoint its location<\/span>. No state anywhere on Earth<\/span>\u00a0can\u00a0<\/span>conduct\u00a0<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>nuclear weapons test\u00a0<\/span>in secret<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Th<\/span>e CTBT<\/span>\u00a0has near universal<\/span>\u00a0international support.<\/span>\u00a0187\u00a0<\/span>States have<\/span>\u00a0signed it and 178 have ratified it<\/span>. W<\/span>ith ten new ratifications since 2021, there i<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0global momentum\u00a0<\/span>against renewed nuclear testing<\/span>\u00a0with enthusiasm among smaller states especially high.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite these gains,\u00a0<\/span>current international uncertainty challenges\u00a0<\/span>the global norm against nuclear testing\u00a0<\/span>created by the<\/span>\u00a0CTBT.\u00a0<\/span>What if\u00a0<\/span>we\u00a0<\/span>see renewed nuclear testing<\/span>,<\/span>or even the use of a nuclear weapon in a conflict? We\u00a0<\/span>would\u00a0<\/span>face a\u00a0<\/span>disastrous\u00a0<\/span>collapse in\u00a0<\/span>international\u00a0<\/span>trust\u00a0<\/span>and solidarity.\u00a0<\/span>A<\/span>\u00a0return to the days of unrestrained nuclear testing\u00a0<\/span>would leave no<\/span>\u00a0state safe, no\u00a0<\/span>community<\/span>\u00a0safe,<\/span>\u00a0no<\/span>\u2013<\/span>one\u00a0<\/span>on Earth unaffected.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s always plenty of talk about learning from mistakes<\/span>. In this case let\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>learn from successes.\u00a0<\/span>The CTBT\u00a0<\/span>brings together the best of diplomacy with the very latest technology for an unambiguous common global good. It\u00a0<\/span>builds transparency and trust,\u00a0<\/span>just\u00a0<\/span>when transparency and trust look to be\u00a0<\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>dwindling supply.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the International Day against Nuclear Tests,<\/span>\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>United Nations General Assembly\u00a0<\/span>high-level\u00a0<\/span>meeting will be convened<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>On this occasion, w<\/span>e call on all states to be open to the bold but<\/span>\u00a0principled decisions needed\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span>\u00a0reach\u00a0<\/span>a final global consensus\u00a0<\/span>under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty<\/span>. To\u00a0<\/span>end nuclear testing once and for all.\u00a0<\/span>Enough is enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

The authors are Ambassador Dennis Francis, the President\u00a0<\/span>of the<\/span>\u00a0UN General Assembly<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>at its\u00a0<\/span>seventy-eighth session and\u00a0<\/span>Dr Robert Floyd, the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization<\/span>.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Source:https:\/\/astanatimes.com\/2024\/08\/enough-is-enough-end-nuclear-testing-once-and-for-all\/<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dennis Francis In 2009 the United\u00a0Nations\u00a0General Assembly proclaimed 29 August the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. This date recalled\u00a0the official closing of the Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons testing site in today\u2019s Kazakhstan on 29 August 1991;\u00a0that one site alone\u00a0having seen\u00a0456 nuclear test explosions between 1949 and 1989. Between 1954 and 1984 there was on average […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1483,8244,8982,8983,8984,8985],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/dennis_francis.jpg","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12933"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13001,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12933\/revisions\/13001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}