Dominican Republic ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

Vienna, 05 September 2007 -

The Dominican Republic ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) on 4 September 2007. This brings the total number of Treaty ratifications to 140. The Dominican Republic signed the Treaty on 3 October 1996, only a few days after it opened for signature on 24 September 1996.

The ratification of the CTBT by the Dominican Republic comes two weeks prior to a conference to promote the Treaty. The Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the CTBT, also called Article XIV Conference, will take place from 17 to18 September 2007 in Vienna, Austria. The Foreign Ministers of Austria and Costa Rica will preside over the conference. The aim of the conference is to examine how the entry into force of the Treaty can be accelerated, and to urge countries that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Treaty without delay.

To date, 177 States have signed the Treaty and 140 have ratified it. The States listed in Annex 2 of the Treaty bear particular responsibility as their ratification is required for the CTBT to enter into force. These States participated in the negotiations of the Treaty in 1996 and possessed nuclear power or research reactors at the time. Thirty-four of these States have ratified the Treaty, including the three nuclear weapon States France, Russian Federation and the United Kingdom. The ten remaining States are China, Colombia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States of America.

The CTBT bans all nuclear explosions. A verification regime is being built to monitor compliance with the Treaty. 337 facilities world-wide will monitor the underground, the oceans and the atmosphere for any sign of a nuclear explosion. Today, more than 200 facilities send data to the International Data Centre at the CTBTO in Vienna.