Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

Statements by Ratifiers and Signatories to the CTBT

United Kingdom

UK STATEMENT TO THE CTBT ARTICLE XIV CONFERENCE

BY BRITISH FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE MINISTER OF STATE

PETER HAIN

VIENNA, THURSDAY 7 OCTOBER 1999

'UK's STRONG COMMITMENT TO THE COMPREHENSIVE TEST BAN TREATY'

Could I congratulate you on your assumption of the Presidency of this Conference. Japan has long been at the forefront of international efforts to promote nuclear disarmament and non proliferation. It is entirely fitting that your country should play a leading role here, and in our efforts following this Conference to bring the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force. I am delighted that my own delegation here in Vienna have also been able to help prepare the way for this event. This has of course been a truly co-operative effort. I thank all those who have played a part. May I also take this opportunity to associate Britain with the statement made by my Finnish colleague yesterday on behalf of the European Union.

I have come to Vienna to underline the United Kingdom's strong political commitment to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. This treaty has rightly been a cherished goal of the international community for decades. It is a milestone on the road to nuclear disarmament, and an essential defence against the dangers of nuclear proliferation.

The United Kingdom played a leading role in the long history of negotiation, first of the Partial Test Ban Treaty, and then of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. With France, we became the first of the nuclear weapons states to ratify the treaty, in April 1998.

For a long time many people thought negotiating such a treaty would be impossible. But through determined effort, and sustained political commitment, we proved them wrong. Some now question whether it will ever be possible to bring this treaty i to force. We must show an equal determination to prove them wrong too.

With the welcome news of several recent ratifications, over half of the 44 states whose ratification is required for entry into force have now done so. This is already a significant quickening of the pace towards entry into force. It is vital that we sustain this positive momentum and we all have a role to play. We urge those signatories who have not yet ratified to do so without further delay. We urge those states which have not yet signed the CTBT to sign and ratify the treaty as soon as possible.

Those of us participating in the CTBT Preparatory Commission also have a duty to ensure that the Provisional Technical Secretariat is given the funding it needs to fulfil its objectives. It is essential that an effective and functioning International Monitoring System is established which can fulfil the requirements of the treaty when it enters into force. In the Strategic Defence Review which the United Kingdom concluded last year, we made clear that our goal was the achievement of a safer world, in which there was no place for nuclear weapons. We are often asked what the international community's next steps should be towards the achievement of that goal. Part of the answer is what has brought us all to Vienna this week.

We agreed in 1995 that a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty must be one of our highest priorities. Having succeeded in negotiating that treaty, we must recommit ourselves here to bringing it into force without delay. We also agreed in 1995 that our next key goal should be the negotiation of a Fissile Material Cut Off Treaty. Sadly, despite a strong consensus in favour of such a treaty, and an apparent breakthrough in Geneva last year, we have yet to begin Cut Off negotiations. But a Cut Off treaty is a prize within our grasp. No country has said it opposes such a treaty. And a mandate for our negotiators at the Conference on Disarmament has already been agreed.

It would be unacceptable if we arrived at next Spring's NPT Review Conference with Cut Off negotiations still not under way. Let us delay no further. Let us work to ensure that when the Conference on Disarmament resumes its work in January, negotiations begin promptly and in earnest. We are ready to play a full and constructive part. By the time we gather next Spring in New York, we must have seen real progress towards further significant reductions in the nuclear arsenals of the major nuclear powers. The world expects no less of us. We have welcomed the renewed commitments made in recent months by Russia and the United States to work for the early ratification of START II, and agreement on a START III treaty. We urge them to work expeditiously together for early progress. And I want to make it absolutely crystal clear that, subject to satisfactory progress, Britain stands ready to include our own nuclear weapons in multilateral negotiations.

May I conclude by pledging the UK's continued full and unstinting support, as we work together for a successful outcome from this Conference, and for progress beyond that towards the entry into force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Let us take this next big step together for our children and for the future.


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