Timor-Leste signs CTBT -
now 180 States have signed

Tibor Tóth, the Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), welcomed Timor-Leste’s signature. Adherence to the CTBT is now almost universal and closing in on older arms control treaties such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Chemical Weapons Convention. In the Treaty-defined region of South East Asia, Pacific and the Far East, 28 of 32 States have now signed the Treaty, of which 19 have ratified. Of the 44 States listed in Annex 2 to the Treaty who must sign and ratify before the CTBT can enter into force, seven are in this region: Australia, China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DRPK), Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Viet Nam. Of these, China, DPRK and Indonesia have yet to ratify. The other six States outside the region  which still have to ratify for the CTBT’s entry into force are: Egypt, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States of America. See here for an interactive map on the Treaty’s status.  The CTBT bans all nuclear explosions. A verification regime is being built to monitor compliance with the Treaty. By the time the Treaty enters into force, 337 facilities will monitor the oceans, underground and the atmosphere for any sign of a nuclear explosion. 256 facilities have been installed to date and are sending data on a continuous basis to the CTBTO’s International Data Centre in Vienna.