High-level meeting urges nuke test ban treaty ratification

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, from left, attend the 20th anniversary celebration of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, CTBTO, at the UN headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Monday, June 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak) (The Associated Press)

prev next

Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, CTBTO, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano of Japan and E.U foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, from left, talk before the 20th anniversary celebration of the CTBTO, starts at the UN headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Monday, June 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak) (The Associated Press)

Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, CTBTO, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano, from left, pose for photos before the 20th anniversary celebration of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, CTBTO, starts at the UN headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Monday, June 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak) (The Associated Press)

VIENNA – Senior international officials are marking the 20th anniversary of the treaty banning nuclear testing and the U.N. organization created to enforce it with calls for holdout nations to bring the pact into force by ratifying it.

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization already polices the world for any sign of nuclear tests. But it still cannot go on site to inspect for tests.

That can happen only if the treaty enters into force. And that will happen only if the holdouts among the 44 countries that are designated "nuclear capable" — the United States, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan — ratify.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon were among those urging the international community Monday to push for full ratification.