A Vatican diplomat marked the International Day Against Nuclear Tests by calling for the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
According to the provisions of the treaty, signed in 1996, the treaty cannot enter into force until all 44 countries that then had nuclear reactors ratify the treaty. Nine nations have not done so: China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and the United States.
“The Holy See renews its appeal for the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which, three decades after its adoption, remains an urgent priority if it is to achieve its full potential and further strengthen the global norm against nuclear testing,” said Msgr. Robert Murphy, interim chargé d’affaires of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations. “The prohibition of nuclear explosive testing is an essential component of the broader moral and legal imperative to ensure the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and to eliminate existing ones.”
Msgr. Murphy also affirmed the “Holy See’s unwavering support for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as well as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”
Most of the world’s nations, including the United States, are parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, signed in 1968. Seventy-five nations—none of them nuclear powers—are parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, signed in 2017.