UN spotlights nuclear weapon states' refusal to ratify test ban treaty at divisive time

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United Nations has expressed concern over the refusal of nuclear weapon states, including the United States, Russia, and China, to ratify the test ban treaty. U.N. disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu highlighted the meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, which was taking place on International Day against Nuclear Tests amid deep geopolitical tension, growing division, and diminishing trust.

The chief emphasized that any resumption of testing would undermine decades of restraint, deepen mistrust, and risk triggering reciprocal tests and an arms race. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, adopted in 1996, requires ratification by 44 specific countries, but the United States, China, Iran, Egypt, and Israel have not yet ratified it.

Russia signed and ratified the treaty but revoked its ratification in 2023. Naamitsu stressed that the international scene is tense and full of mistrust, including regarding nuclear testing. The International Day Against Nuclear Tests commemorates the shutdown of the former Soviet nuclear test site at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, in 1991, and highlights the victims of the atomic era.

A survivor of nuclear testing, Tina Cordova, shared her family's story of radiation exposure for five generations and called for acknowledgment and assistance.