Indonesia Ratifies Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya JAKARTA, Dec 7 (Bernama) -- Indonesia has ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) Tuesday, when the House of Representatives passed legislation officially endorsing the treaty. The CTBT bans all nuclear explosions in all environments for military or civilian purposes. The States Parties to the Treaty already have in place a verification regime consisting of three pillars, namely the International Monitoring System, International Data Centre and On-site Inspections. Through this regime, the States Parties are able to monitor nuclear explosions and compliance with the treaty. By ratifying the treaty, Indonesia strongly demonstrated its commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons and increased the ranks of states that have ratified the treaty to 156, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday. For the CTBT to come into force, it now needs to be ratified by only eight more Annex II countries. "Indonesia has always vigorously supported the CTBT and was among the first to sign when the treaty was opened for signature on Sept 24, 1996. "However, as a matter of principle, it deferred the process of its ratification on the principle that States that possessed nuclear weapons should commit to the treaty, ahead of anyone else," said the ministry. In the light of recent events indicating that the cause of disarmament could now move forward more expeditiously, Indonesia has concluded that it can hasten the treaty’s entry into force by ratifying the treaty, thereby encouraging the eight remaining Annex II countries to follow suit. To Indonesia today, the position of principle to defer the ratification process has served its purpose. Thus, at the opening of the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa announced the decision of the Indonesian Government to launch the process of ratifying the CTBT. -- BERNAMA