This 21st issue of Spectrum features an address by the President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaoré, who became the first head of state to address the CTBTO Preparatory Commission at its 40th Session on 13 June 2013. Compaoré shares his vision for peace and international security in a world without nuclear weapons, calling on those remaining States that have not yet signed or ratified the CTBT to do so in order that the Treaty can become legally binding. He also describes the usefulness of...

In this 20th issue, the Foreign Minister of Iraq, Hoshyar Zebari, reports on the steps taken by the Iraqi parliament towards ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the importance Iraq attaches to promoting the Treaty’s entry into force. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, who helped the Kennedy administration draft the Partial Test Ban Treaty, describes why the case for ratification of the CTBT by the United States is stronger than ever. Zia Mian from Princeton...

In this 19th issue, the Foreign Ministers of Chile and Finland, Alfredo Moreno and Erkki Toumioja, make a strong political pitch for the Treaty and also highlight the contribution of CTBT verification data for disaster mitigation. They are joined by two prominent South Asian thinkers: former UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala, and Hindustan Times Foreign Editor Pramit Pal Chaudhuri. Nuclear physicist Siegfried Hecker explains why nuclear armed States stand...

This issue of CTBTO Spectrum focuses on the legal aspects of building the verification regime. It sets out to examine the essential role played by facility agreements and other legal arrangements in placing the provisional operation and maintenance of the IMS on a secure legal foundation. An interview with Palitha Kohona, Chief of the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs at the United Nations in New York, a special feature article by Anthony Aust, former Legal Counsellor of the...

This issue of CTBTO Spectrum looks at the ‘mechanisms’ of Conferences on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the CTBT, focusing in particular on the upcoming Conference, which will take place in Vienna from 3 to 5 September this year. An interview with Ambassador Tom Grönberg, who is chairing the preparatory process of the 2003 Conference, and a special feature article by the former United Nations Under-Secretary General Jayantha Dhanapala, concentrate on this theme. This issue also provides...

This first issue gives an overview of the status of the verification regime build-up and, as an overarching theme, it highlights the significant role of the Treaty in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. An interview with Sergei A. Ordzhonikidze, Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, and a special feature article by Peter Marshall, an expert on seismology, focus on this theme. This issue also provides an update on the latest session of the Preparatory Commission, in...

In this special 15th anniversary issue of Spectrum and video, a number of former and current staff share some of their personal memories of the journey since March 1997 when the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) began its operations in Vienna. In the words of the first Executive Secretary of the CTBTO, Wolfgang Hoffmann: ‘We were a very small group of people with a huge task. Although confronted with numerous challenges, many staff refer...

In the latest issue of Spectrum, the former leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, calls for a total ban on nuclear testing. In his article entitled The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT): Helping to create a truly global community, Gorbachev states that we should not be content with the current virtual moratorium on nuclear testing “because commitments that are not legally binding can easily be violated.” He urges the nine ‘rejectionist’ countries that must still ratify...

Reflecting the renewed political prominence of the CTBT, this issue of Spectrum has an abundance of political and scientific contributions from prominent authors. No less than four foreign ministers explain why the CTBT is important to their countries: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his Moroccan counterpart, Taieb Fassi Fihri, who will be jointly presiding over the Article XIV conference; Alberto Romulo, Foreign Minister of the Philippines and Carl Bildt, Foreign Minister of...

While the current global financial crisis has been dominating headlines recently, it is important not to neglect another complex and insufficiently regulated system: the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime. CTBTO Spectrum 12 highlights the crucial role that the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) plays in this regime and is honoured to have an interview with the Academy Award-winning actor and UN Messenger for Peace, Michael Douglas, as well as articles by the German...

In view of the current political climate, this edition of CTBTO Spectrum focuses on the role of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in the wider non-proliferation and disarmament context. We are privileged to have received articles from several internationally acclaimed leaders and political figures including President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, former US Senator Sam Nunn, and US senior diplomats, Ambassadors Max Kampelman and Tom Graham....

Beginning with an editorial from Executive Secretary Tibor Toth, this issue features Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s views on the CTBT, a cover story by Dr. Hans Blix on “going the last mile to banish nuclear weapons testing,” a recap of the 2007 Article XIV Conference, an article by Dr. Rebecca Johnson in which she highlights the “renewed opportunities to bring the CTBT into force,” as well as the dangers presented by the ten countries who still had not ratified at the time. Additionally,...

The African region, which this issue of CTBTO Spectrum focuses on as an overarching theme, is a particularly good example for the ever increasing numbers of signatures and ratifications: Of those States, who signed and ratified the Treaty in 2004, 75 and 66 percent respectively, were from the African region. Besides looking at the relations between Africa and the CTBT, this issue of CTBTO Spectrum provides an overview of the Commission’s work over the past six months, including an update on...

This issue of CTBTO Spectrum focuses on the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) geographical region and the CTBT. It is the first issue in a series which will be covering all six Treaty-defined regions. The LAC region has always played an important role in contributing towards ensuring the entry into force and universality of the CTBT. When the Treaty opened for signature in 1996, 21 LAC States signed it. In the meantime, the number of signatures has increased to 27, with 20 LAC countries...

This issue of CTBTO Spectrum looks at the results of the Article XIV Conference. The cover story by Ambassador Yukio Takasu provides a Member State’s view of the Conference. As an overarching theme, this issue focuses on the benefits of signing the Treaty, both political and those deriving from the potential civil and scientific applications of the verification technologies. An interview with Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and a special feature article by Hein Haak, a Dutch infrasound...