(VOVworld) – High ranking UN officials on Monday called for the implementation of a multilateral treaty that bans all nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments.
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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is making a speech on the International Day against Nuclear Test on August 29, 2016 (Photo: VNA)
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Marking the International Day against Nuclear Tests, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in his message that the day of 29 August marked a quarter of a century since the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakhstan. From 1949 to 1989, there were more than 500 nuclear explosions in the area, which contaminated 18 million km2 of land and threatened more than 1.5 million people’s health.
To date, 183 countries have signed the treaty and 164 have ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. 8 countries from Annex 2, including China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and the US, have yet to ratify it.