JURIST - Paper Chase: Ethiopia ratifies nuclear test-ban treaty as US, China, Iran and Israel remain holdouts

[JURIST] Ethiopia [JURIST news archive] on Tuesday submitted its ratification [press release] of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) [text; VRS backgrounder, PDF] to the UN Secretary-General. The CTBT bans any nuclear explosion, for testing purposes or otherwise, and was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996. Thirty-four of the 44 signatories possessing nuclear research and power capabilities at that time have ratified the treaty, and the treaty requires ratification from all those signatory nations to enter into force.

A total of 176 states worldwide have signed the treaty, so far ratified by 135. Among the key holdouts are the United States, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, and Israel. In January, the US boycotted a UN conference [JURIST report] designed to encourage the then-11 nuclear holdouts, who now number 10, to sign the treaty. FAS has more, via Secrecy News.

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