The few countries that are holding off on bringing the global ban on nuclear tests into force are behaving irresponsibly, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Friday. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty cannot come into effect unless eight remaining countries including the United States, Israel and Iran sign and ratify it.
"Any country opposed to signing or ratifying is simply failing to meet its responsibilities as a member of the international community," Ban said in Vienna at an event commemorating the 15th anniversary of the CTBT organisation. "It is irresponsible of the international community to just wait," he said, arguing that a test ban would pave the way to nuclear disarmament. The list of hold-outs also comprises Egypt, India, Pakistan, China and North Korea. Except for Egypt, all these eight countries have nuclear weapons or are suspected of owning or pursuing such arms. "The world is overarmed and development is underfunded. It is time to reverse that equation," Ban said.