Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization:
The recent rumours of a nuclear test by Iran were promptly refuted by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).
- It is an international organization based in Vienna, Austria, established to implement the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which aims to ban all nuclear explosions worldwide.
- CTBT is a multilateral treaty opened for signature in 1996 by which states agree to ban all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian purposes.
- The treaty envisages the mechanisms that control such prohibition, including distant monitoring and data collection.
- It was signed by 183 states and ratified by 164 but has not entered into force as eight specific states among 44 (so-called Annex-2 states whose signatures are required for the Treaty to enter into force, namely the US, China, Iran, Egypt, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea) have not ratified the treaty yet.
- In order to verify compliance with its provisions, the treaty establishes a global network of monitoring facilities and allows for on-site inspections of suspicious events.
