Global Security Newswire

A top international arms control official on Monday said that growing support for the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty must be turned to action (see GSN, Nov. 13).

The time has come to "walk the talk," according to Tibor Toth, head of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization.

Toth told a meeting of 104 CTBT member nations in Vienna that they were approaching "the most defining period of [the treaty organization's] existence," according to a press release.

U.S. President Barack Obama has made nuclear nonproliferation a key issue of his administration and he and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev have both agreed to work for the treaty's entry into force. These developments have created a "paradigm shift" in favor of test ban, Toth said.

"We are witnessing a lively debate in favor of the treaty among politicians and civil society in several of the Annex 2 states," Toth said. "There is a renewed hope that the treaty in force is no longer a distant vision."

The treaty to date has been signed by 182 countries and ratified by 151 nations.

Before the pact can enter it to force, it must be ratified by the 44 Annex 2 countries. There are nine holdouts -- China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United States. Once those states signed on, all nuclear explosions would be made illegal.

The treaty's verification program envisions 337 facilities across the globe that would monitor the atmosphere, oceans and underground for nuclear tests. The 250th facility was certified Monday.

"There has been a tenfold increase in the size of the system since 2002," Toth said.

His organization next year is set to have a budget of $115.6 million (Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization release, Nov. 17).