An Update on the Comprehensive-Test-Ban Treaty

On Sept. 20, I had the pleasure of representing Church and Society at a U.N. Conference on Facilitating Entry into Force of the Comprehensive-Test-Ban Treaty.

Initially, I had no clue what that meant, but I learned the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty welcomed its first signatures 20 years ago with the goal of prohibiting nuclear weapon test explosions on Earth.

Over those 20 years, 183 countries have signed the treaty, and 166 have ratified it. Promisingly, Myanmar is the latest to sign, and the Comprehensive-Test-Ban Treaty Conference is committed to meeting at least every other year until its goal, entry into force, is met.

Entry into force

What does “entry into force” mean? As it stands, treaty signatories have agreed not to test nuclear weapons, but it’s a good faith agreement. Entry into force would make it legally binding, with consequences for nations who violate the treaty.

However, that can’t happen until all 44 countries with nuclear technology, called the Annex 2 States, sign and ratify the treaty.

Eight of the Annex 2 countries have continually failed to do so. China, Iran, Israel, Egypt and the U.S. have all signed the treaty, but have not ratified it. Pakistan, India, and North Korea have neither signed nor ratified the treaty.

Diplomacy at work

At the Conference, I saw diplomacy at work. The General Assembly was in session, so top-tier government officials from nearly every nation were present.

It was my first time seeing and hearing U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who exudes a calming energy. Every country was given the opportunity to weigh in on the treaty. They were each given time to show where they’d made progress in their land, encourage the remaining Annex 2 States to sign, and reiterate why entry into force can’t come soon enough.

One by one, speakers from Japan to Liechtenstein and everywhere in between shared their commitment to ensuring a world free from nuclear explosions.

The representative from the Marshall Islands, however, shared something more than additional support for the treaty. From 1946 to 1958, the U.S. conducted 67 tests in the Marshall Islands, including a monstrous, 15-megaton detonation on Bikini Atoll. According to a Washington Post report, “Its flash was seen from Okinawa, 2,600 miles away. Its radioactive fallout was later detected in cattle in Tennessee.” For perspective, “if their combined explosive power was parceled evenly over that 12-year period, it would equal 1.6 Hiroshima-size explosions per day.”

The Marshall Islands representative described the horror reaped up their people, wildlife, and homeland still being acutely felt more than 60 years later.

The Islands’ “elders have endured burns that reached to the bone, forced relocation, nightmarish birth defects, cancers in the short and long term. Its young people have inherited a world unmade, remade and then virtually forgotten by Washington, D.C.”

Representatives who later spoke thanked the Marshall Islands for sharing their unique account. Most importantly, they acknowledged that what happened on the Marshall Islands was wrong, an avoidable tragedy that should never happen again.

read more about what The United Methodist Church says about the tragedy in the Marshall Islands

Standing against nuclear proliferation

In these discouraging political times, I felt fortified to observe governments learning from each other, supporting each other, and encouraging healing. It was a great reminder that listening is an action, and it’s something each of us can do every day.

Hearing these testimonies was touching and reaffirming! It also demonstrated how the unified efforts of nearly every country on the planet could fail, because I was sitting right behind North Korea’s empty chair. There was nobody to give an explanation to the world on why North Korea continues to conduct explosive nuclear testing in the 21st century or to hear the powerful, near-universal plea for peace from all its earthly neighbors.

Seeing that empty chair, and seeing the U.S. listed among remaining Annex 2 states was a reminder that our nonproliferation work is unfinished. The United Methodist Church says, “If there is any concern in the international community where international law intersects with ethics and morality, it is the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons…Accordingly, we reject the possession of nuclear weapons as a permanent basis for securing and maintaining peace.” (Book of Resolutions, 6129)

Fear of nuclear explosions is higher now than it has been for some time. But, as United Methodists, we can be proud to stand with the rest of the world in demanding the extinction of nuclear explosions, and pray for swift entry into force of the Comprehensive-Test-Ban Treaty.